Monster Island
by KodiakWolfe13
Summary: When Danny went down to the beach, he didn't expect to find the remnants of a wreck...or an unconscious girl, for that matter. He didn't know if her living was a good thing, though, seeing as they were stuck on Monster Island. (AU.)(Zero ghost powers; one meta power.)(No pairings. Ever.)
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I'm not old enough to own Godzilla, nor did I like Danny Phantom when it first came out. You do the math.**

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Prologue

Blearily, the raven-haired boy lying on a makeshift raft opened his blue eyes. As he groaned at his discomfort, he tried to shift but found himself slipping instead. He latched onto whatever was under his fingers to stop himself from falling into the water pooling around his thighs. In surprise, the preteen's vision snapped into focus and he took in the sights around him while gripping the suitcase straps under his fingers tightly.

Water. That's all he saw in the moonlight: slow, lapping waves of black water that surrounded him on all sides. The ocean around him made a continuous _shhh_ sound, lulling him to and fro and shushing everything so it remained as quiet as it was now. The stars twinkled above him noiselessly and the bright moon brokenly reflected off the surface of the waves.

Wait... Something caught the boy's eye. He turned his head to his right and his eyes widened at the huge, black mass sitting in the far distance. It rose to touch the sky and it refused to sway to the ocean waves, staying perfectly still and erect. It was the perfect, unreachable, impenetrable fortress nobody could touch no matter how hard they tried. It hypnotized the small preteen and he found himself unable to draw himself to look away. As all children are, he was drawn to the idea of an adventure waiting for someone like him to take up.

The boy could only be aroused by other voices of other people. They came from behind him and he had to kick his stiff legs in the water to get his suitcase to turn around. His crystalline eyes made out six other forms floating among other bobbing items he could tell were more suitcases. The other bodies clinging to makeshift rafts were bigger than he was, a lot bigger, but he didn't really mind. After all, they were other people and other people were a good thing, right?

"Hi?" The ebony-haired boy called lightly, tilting his head to the side casually. He blinked as the others immediately perked to attention, looking in his direction. The preteen felt himself beginning to blush madly as he shrunk under their gazes. He wondered where this sudden embarrassment and shyness was coming from but refused to say anything more until he had been spoken too.

He heard a masculine voice say, "Shit! I thought the kid was _dead_!" It was followed by a hard _slap_ , a loud _ow_ , and a female saying, "Johnny! What the hell?! You can't just say that in front of a kid!"

After that, there was a groan in irritation and another male voice said, "Come here, boy. Join the group. Sorry you weren't with us earlier." The boy heard the other man's, Johnny's, words ringing in his head, saying how they thought he was dead but they quickly vanished. It wasn't a big deal anyway. "What's your name, kid?"

"Danny." The preteen responded instantly, though he was surprised it came out of his mouth. Like a firecracker, it set off a bunch of things in his mind. Without even realizing it, he continued, "Danny James Fenton."

Another unfamiliar voice grumbled, "Is this kid serious? What's the point of giving us his full name? It's not like it matters much now, does it?"

"Shut up." The man who had asked Danny's name called, quickly getting the other male to stop his gripes as he turned his attention to the young preteen kicking his raft up to his. The man, who Danny could now see had green hair in a mohawk with a bunch of piercings across his face, looked the younger boy up and down before scrunching up his face in confusion. "Do you feel any pain, Whelp?"

The preteen hummed, shifted his body around on his raft, and shook his head at the older man. "No. I'm stiff but I'm not hurt."

Danny watched as the others began looking between them. He frowned when he began realizing a lot of them were covered in blood, despite being soaking wet from the murky water surrounding them. Danny looked down at himself and noticed blood covering him too but there were no cuts or gashes. There were only faint, pink lines he could barely make out and light bruises littering his skin.

Startled, Danny looked up quickly when the soaked, green-haired man reached out and began brushing the boy's black strands away from the younger's forehead. Danny was too scared the older was going to do something but the man only brushed his thumb against Danny's right eyebrow. The preteen felt something flake, probably dried blood, but still refused to do anything about the other man invading his personal space.

Much to Danny's surprise, the other man pulled away with a serious look as he said, "You had a cut there earlier today when I checked on you."

The young boy didn't know how to respond so he didn't. Instead, he frowned at the older and gave him a confused look. The others were starting to give him various looks; some glaring, others just curious. Danny shrunk under their looks uncomfortably and laid flat against his suitcase. He let his eyes drift from their faces to the fortress in the distance, refusing to say anything.

A soft breeze suddenly blew over the group, causing everyone's drenched bodies to shiver. Danny shook the hardest, wearing nothing more than a t-shirt and a pair of light jeans. He wanted to complain like some of the other adults were doing but he resisted the urge, smartly keeping his mouth shut out of fear of getting snapped at. His teeth tried to chatter but he grinded his teeth together to stop them from doing so, despite the pain in his jaws that came with it.

"Hey."

Danny's attention was instantly brought to the girl who had snapped at the man named Johnny. Like the other male, she had green hair but her roots were dark brown, the neon color fading away. She was smiling at him reassuringly and Danny found himself smiling back, despite all his discomfort. She gestured for him to come closer to her as she said, "Come here. We'll keep each other warm."

Johnny made a shocked, displeased sound as Danny laughed under his breath. The woman only smiled wider as the preteen slipped off his suitcase, immersing himself into the sea, and paddled over to her little raft. The woman helped Danny crawl half-on it with her before she wrapped an arm around the younger, pulling him close and shielding him from the worst of the wind. Danny hummed gratefully.

The only other girl with them, a woman with long black hair, asked the green-haired man what they were going to do. He responded professionally, saying something about the ocean current taking them towards the island in the distance so they could rest easy for the time being. Danny mostly ignored them though. The adults would take care of everything, after all.

The woman with short, choppy, green hair bent her head down close to Danny's ear and whispered, "So, where do you live, Danny?"

The raven-haired preteen opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out of his mouth. He struggled to remember, his face scrunching up in confusion. There were images in his head and words and phrases he knew but they were becoming blurry, becoming darker with each second that passed. All the bright colors and smiling faces were becoming unfamiliar and no matter how many times he repeated names and phrases, he remembered less and less every time he went through his list. Soon enough, all he had was the name Daniel "Danny" James Fenton and his birthday left.

However, in all of the confusion, there were still things that stayed but were incomplete ideas.

Danny remembered that adults had jobs but he couldn't remember why. He remembered that people lived in cities but he didn't know any names. He remembered that people liked playing games but he didn't know any of the rules. He knew of a building everyone called school but he couldn't remember the name of his. He remembered that adults called teachers did the teaching but he didn't remember any of his. He remembered other kids went to school but he didn't remember any of his classmates. He remembered that kids liked to play with toys but he didn't remember any of the ones he liked. He knew that people lived in houses but he couldn't remember what his was like.

Danny remembered that people had families, who loved and cared and played and did practically everything with each other, but he couldn't even remember if he lived with both parents or if he had any siblings.

Looking up at the green-haired woman sullenly, he shrugged and answered, "I don't remember. I don't remember anything."

The green-haired woman's hazel eyes widened in shock and she reached up to stroke the preteen's hair comfortingly. She eased her expression into a motherly look as she rested her cheek against the boy's head, consolingly saying, "It's alright. I'm sure it's nothing. You'll probably remember everything in a little while. You had a nasty bump on your head earlier from the plane crash-"

"Plane crash?" Danny cut off. He looked up at the woman in confusion.

Despite hiding it well, the preteen could see the older female was slowly growing more concerned about his amnesia with each second. The woman continued to brush it off as nothing, though, as she replied, "Yeah... Plane crash... That's why we're here. If I remember correctly, you were sitting in the very front of the plane with a few other kids who were riding without their parents. You were playing an old Game-Boy while listening to your iPod."

The raven-haired boy didn't bother to mention that he didn't remember what either of those things were. It didn't really matter now, it seemed. The playthings had been swallowed up by the ocean and were forever lost to the depths of the sea.

"Ok, I think we should tell Skulker about your memory loss..." The green-haired woman mumbled, lifting her head in the direction of the man that had brushed his hand against Danny's face.

Danny wanted to say something, tell her his amnesia meant nothing in a time like this, but he was abruptly cut off.

" ** _SKKRREEEEOONNGGKK!_** "

Everyone's attention was drawn towards the impenetrable fortress as the roar faded away into a loud crash that shook parts of the island. Screeches followed and Danny barely made out a massive figure flying in the sky, blocking out hundreds of stars with its body. It disappeared against the outline of the island but a crash followed after, along with another mighty roar that made fear spike in Danny's stomach. He felt the woman beside him tighten her grip on him, holding him closer as the thundering crashes continued. Shrieks and roars shattered the quiet night into a thousand itsy-bitsy pieces.

The battle continued for the next ten minutes, intensifying as each second passed. No one in the group said or did anything as they slowly drifted closer to the island and the destruction taking place on it.

Danny gulped but felt excited when a dull, blue light suddenly began growing in the shape of upright, spiky dorsal fins. They grew in brightness until they were blinding. There was another roar before a beam of the same light flew from a monster's mouth, lighting parts of the island and the ocean as it streaked through the air, colliding with a flying being. It shrieked when it was hit and began dropping from the sky as the beam of light continued its onslaught. As the massive creature crashed into the ground, the light cut off, leaving everything in darkness. A roar shook the night before sounds of the being taking flight again cut it off. After that, it was dead silent.

One of the other males that Danny had yet to hear speak, some young adult with bleached white hair, mumbled, "Oh good God, we're going to fucking die..."

No one voiced their agreements but everyone felt mutual about the ordeal. Well... All except Danny. He was more intrigued by the island because _he could remember_ the monster that had scared the flying creature away. It struck a familiar terror through his bones, despite the curiosity coursing through his veins; something he felt he was taught to feel even when the name was just a passing comment.

 _Godzilla._

They were drifting towards Monster Island and Danny couldn't bring himself to feel as much terror as the others were feeling.

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 **This is easily my favorite prologue that I've written so far. I'm quite proud of it. I dun know why I like it so much. :D**

 **Alright, anyways, we're going to have an epic time-skip in a minute but whatever. That's not the point. If you read Talents, the next two chapters are going to be rewritten versions of ch.7 (since I want it being from Danny's POV). If you don't read Talents, you can find out what happens next by reading ch.7 but that just spoils the surprise and I highly recommend not doing that. *thumbs up***

 **Alright, see you all in a few days! Hope you enjoyed! :D**


	2. Sam

Ch.1: Sam

Turning over, Danny buried his head into the pillow he had made from bundling clothes together. The light shining into his cozy cave was blinding and it irritated the teen to no end as he struggled to keep his blue eyes carefully shut. His longish hair was sticking to his eyelids but it wasn't as bad as it had been a few days ago. The warm temperature surrounding him was sweltering and sweat ran down the back of the teen's neck and down his back, chest, and arms. His flesh was ridiculously and uncomfortably sticky because of it.

Sighing, Danny reached up and brushed his hair from his face. He turned onto his back and opened his eyes, glaring at the cave ceiling above him. Despite not wanting to get up, his entire body felt refreshed and ready for the day ahead. Vaguely, he wondered why he couldn't get away with being lazy for one day. It wasn't like he had much to do anyways. He'd gotten a lot done the day before and had barely saved anything for the day the teen had woken up to. So what if he wanted to lay around for a little longer?

The teen breathed another sigh and turned his head to gaze at the other side of the empty cave. Danny studied the spot where Skulker had usually slept but was now an empty spot. The materials the older man had used as his bed had long been swept up into Danny's pile for extra padding and the spot had yet to be turned into anything else. It laid completely bare, dust covering the hard ground.

"Where did you go?" Danny muttered, frowning at the spot. He pondered the older's disappearance every morning and always came up empty. It didn't make sense for Skulker to leave Danny behind for anything, seeing as the teen was a valuable asset, but the teen hadn't found the other's body yet either. The man's disappearance was a mystery, one the raven-haired boy wondered if he would ever solve.

Sitting up, Danny shooed away the depressing thoughts and stretched his sore muscles. He groaned and listened to his spine pop, feeling his bones shift under his skin into their correct places. When he was satisfied and feeling better, Danny got up from the ground and shook out his limbs, leaving behind any of the limpness sleep had brought on. Afterwards, he headed towards the entrance of the cave and looked out.

Instantly, he yelped and covered his eyes, groaning as the light burned his eyes unbearably. He mumbled a few choice curse words before yelling, "Well, that was a mistake!"

After a little while of rubbing, he hesitantly pulled his hands away from his face and blinked erratically to adjust his eyes better, though he doubted he was doing any good for himself. The aches eased away quickly though, allowing him to see his surroundings without any pain. Danny nodded to himself before groaning and reaching up to rub his face. Once he was done with that, he turned to look back at his little home and mumbled, "Alright, what do I need to do today?"

Danny scanned the cave and noticed all the materials he needed were there. The fire was burned out, of course, but he could always relight it later when it wasn't so blistering hot out. That left him with nothing to do that day and Danny glared at his little hovel, wishing it had rained so he could've lain around for a little longer since he had nothing to do that day except wander around aimlessly.

With that in mind, Danny decided to go to the beach back a little ways away and go for a swim before he could explore the island further. His blue eyes scanned the cave and he asked himself, "Do I need anything..? …well, I need a shirt that fits and isn't for a girl and some shoes but other than that? Nope."

Rolling his eyes and grinning, the boy turned around and began wandering towards the stream a small distance away. He dropped to his knees beside it before dunking his head under the water, drinking greedily from the freshwater stream. When he was finished, he lifted his head from the stream, smiling stupidly at his actions. He shook his head, sending water flying everywhere, before he got up and began jogging towards a path he had used many times over the years. The pathway was bare of any plants and the dirt looked worn-out from being stomped on practically every day.

It was easy getting to the beach and Danny arrived mostly unscathed, though he had been smacked across the face by a few tree branches he had forgotten were hanging lower than usual. His smile was strained and irritated as his bare feet stepped onto the sand. Curses fell from his mouth as he angrily cursed the trees for hating him, as he had done nothing to them, as far as he was aware.

The teen stopped short when his eyes met the shoreline. All his irritation and playfulness drained from his body within an instant, leaving nothing but surprise. Danny slowly looked over the entirety of the shore, blue eyes carefully scanning and picking up everything he saw. For a moment, he didn't know what to do. He hadn't seen the beach so filled with wrecked debris since he had washed ashore with his band of misfits and it definitely hadn't been the sort of thing he was looking at now.

Splinters of wood drifted in the ocean and hooked loosely to the sand at the water's edge. There were large pieces of metal and mechanics spread thinly everywhere, even though Danny wasn't sure how it managed to float this far and not drift to the bottom of the ocean. Smaller, indistinguishable things sunk into the sand here and there but nothing in particular caught his eye as useful for his line of living. Then again, nothing did. Everything was either too big to carry or too decorative and flimsy to be used for long. There was no middle ground, it seemed.

Danny walked down towards the shoreline, carefully searching for any sharp debris in the sand. He silently wished he had some sort of shoes to put on but they had all been too small for him or had fallen into such disrepair they weren't usable anymore. It caused his soles to become scraped rather easily, despite how calloused the flesh had become over the years, but he guessed it was ok since he healed fast.

Taking careful steps, the teen navigated through the wreckage, slowly searching for anything that could be of use to his survival. The water lapped at his feet as he wandered about, drenching the ends of his jeans. He paused a few times, turning some of the larger pieces over and looking under them. The most he found were shells and crabs that scurried away from him.

The raven-haired boy was turning another wooden plank when something sparkly caught his eye under the board. Danny bent down and brushed the sand from the object, pulling it into his hands.

The object was a broken, glass dolphin or, at least, the remnants of one. The figurine's tail was missing, as well a part of the dorsal and right pectoral fin. There were chips of all sizes in the surface, barely leaving any of its original smoothness. There were spider-web cracks along the rough surface that reached to the very base of the glass figurine. A small breeze could probably break the glass dolphin if it tried hard enough.

Frowning, Danny let the figurine slip from his fingers and drop back into the sand. The impact broke the rest of the dolphin into five different pieces, sending a pang of regret through the teen's chest. He wasn't totally sure why he felt it; it's not like he had any connection to the insignificant figurine anyway. It was just a trinket. Really, all it did for him was show just how much of a pleasure boat the wreckage used to be. It wasn't the first ornamental piece he had come across, though the dolphin had been the one that held up the best.

Standing back up, Danny looked around the area again and began wandering off again. There was a lot more debris to sort through and he hoped to get it done by nightfall. Whatever boat had crashed had been massive.

Danny found something precious long before nightfall, though, and he vaguely wondered how he had forgotten to search for such a thing before.

The teen had been stepping over a hulking piece of metal when he spotted the figure. Danny had been shocked out of his mind and forgot to bring his right leg over the large piece of debris, despite the fact he was still falling forward. In this way, he efficiently managed to trip himself and send himself sprawling into the sand. He didn't care, though, as he quickly pushed himself back up and hurried to where he saw the unmoving figure floating in the shallow water along the shoreline, limply hanging in a life preserver.

Rushing into the water, Danny crashed through the waves and sent sprays of water flying into the air, getting it all over him and drenching the ebony-haired girl's head further. He skidded to a stop beside her, nearly falling on top of her with his sudden stop. Danny cursed himself for being an idiot while he began carefully sliding her out of the floating loop, ropes wrapping around the life preserver.

In a second, though, Danny paused and wondered if he should be moving the unfamiliar girl. What if she had some injury that he couldn't see and could make worse by simply trying to get her to the shore? Then he grumbled to himself and shook his head, mumbling, "Well, I guess it's a little too late now, isn't it, moron?"

Danny slid the girl the rest of the way out of the preserver before carefully picking her up into a bridal carry. He gently carried her to the shoreline, past the water, and into the dry sand. He set her down and laid her straight, praying he hadn't totally screwed her by doing so. Then again, was she even breathing?

The raven-haired boy wanted to slap himself but resisted doing it. Instead, he bent down so his ear was near her mouth and nose. Close up, he could hear her breathes and feel the exhaled air against his bare flesh. Her breathing was strong and steady, much to Danny's intense relief as he pulled away from her and began looking everything else over.

The girl's clothes had obviously seen better days, though they were better off than what little clothes still fit the teen boy. Her ebony hair, so much like Danny's, was in complete disarray and hung around and in her face, clinging wetly to her flesh. Her skin was deathly pale in some places and bright pink in others and Danny didn't know why.

There was a burn up one of her arms and the sides of both of her legs were also singed badly. Her pale skin had blackened around the edges and reddened in the middle. Vibrant crimson blood gushed slowly around the edges. There were other, more minor scratches and cuts everywhere else, as well as blossoming bruises.

Danny wondered what to do for a second. He was lost without the guidance of Skulker, even though he had managed to take care of himself for who-knew-how-long without the older's help. The teen hadn't really helped anyone else with his own will though. Skulker had always been talking about keeping the others around to help and that's what had driven him. Now that he was unofficially in charge of someone else, he was dumbstruck and clueless.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, Danny calmed himself quickly and took a deep breath. He mumbled reassurances to himself as he settled down beside the unnamed girl's legs. He took the left one into his lap and began brushing his fingers against one of the burns gently, whispering calming words to himself so he wouldn't accidently reverse the effect of his powers. Despite his good grasp on his healing abilities, sometimes he still slipped up and made everything worse without meaning to.

There was the faintest of blue glows around Danny's fingers as he carefully brushed them around the edges of the wound and along the center. The girl's flesh magically began fading from black to a simple, bright red color. The blood stopped seeping gingerly from the wounds, leaving only wet streaks behind. The reddened skin began knitting together and fading in color, scarring over and becoming a pale, white color in return until only the scar was left behind to tell what happened.

Danny nodded to himself for a job well done before moving the girl's leg off him again. Getting up, he went to her other side and did the same to her right leg. Within a few minutes, that burn was all sealed up and nothing more than a white scar. The ebony-haired boy moved onto the girl's arm before getting rid of all the scratches marring her skin. Danny knew they weren't much of a worry but infections could spawn in any open wound and his powers didn't work on health problems such as that.

Time passed quickly and, soon enough, Danny was finished with his work but he found himself stumped, yet again. He wasn't quite sure what he needed to do next. The teen figured he should probably get the girl awake but what if she wouldn't stir from her slumber? What would he do then? It's not like his knowledge of all things medical was level to that of a doctor or anything!

Anxiously, Danny crawled over to the new girl's head and kneeled beside her. His uncertain blue eyes studied her face for an unanimous amount of time before he gently patted her cheek, hoping it would warrant a reaction from her. While he did so, he called, "Hey, girl? Hey! Wake up! I need to know if you're brain dead or not! Hello~? Are you ok? Come on, wake up for me please! You kind of owe it to me after I made sure you didn't drown or bleed out."

The teen continued patting the girl's cheek and calling for her to wake up. Danny frowned when she didn't respond and tilted his head to the side in worry. He didn't want anything to be wrong with her. Danny was just beginning to realize that, if she woke up, the girl could become his friend on the lonely island. God only knew how much he had been praying for one since Skulker had suddenly dropped off the face of the earth. Listening to your voice grew tiring after awhile.

The girl refused to awaken or stir and Danny stopped calling to her and slapping her cheek. He leaned over her forlornly, frowning deeper as he stared at her unresponsive expression. Danny wondered what he was going to do if she wouldn't wake up. The girl wasn't dead but she might as well be if she didn't regain consciousness anytime soon.

Danny was startled from his thoughts when there was the tiniest of groans. If the sound had been any quieter, he would have easily missed it.

Now perked to attention, Danny watched intently as the girl's neutral expression morphed into one of pain and discomfort. She shivered when the soft breeze winding across the beach brushed against her flesh, causing gooseflesh to prick across her bare skin. A moment later, she cracked her eyes open and looked vacantly above her and right at Danny's hovering face.

The raven-haired boy could feel his eyes widen the tiniest bit at the color of the unnamed girl's eyes. They were a light amethyst shade that Danny hadn't thought was natural in humans. Sure, there were ways of changing your eye-color (though how that was done was beyond Danny's knowledge) but these seemed as real as Danny's blue eyes.

The violet eyes stayed open for a few seconds, looking at Danny without any recognition of his presence, before they began closing again. The raven-haired boy gestured wildly for her not to do so as he began saying, "Wait! Don't do that, please! Come on, stay awake! You just woke up! Don't leave me like this! I don't even know your name! Stay awake, _please_!"

Oh _wow_ , he sounded _pathetic_ and it was sad how much _he didn't care_.

"Please open your eyes again." Danny pleaded with the girl, noticing the way she frowned at his words. Why she did so, he didn't know and didn't care to find out. The teen just leaned closer and continued pleading, "Come on! Don't go to sleep again. You just woke up. It can't be good for you to go back to sleep already. Can you even hear me?"

The girl opened her eyes again and, upon seeing Danny so close to her own face, screamed. Danny, startled, yelped at the sudden noise and jumped back from her as she scrambled up into a sitting position, looking around wildly at the ocean. She didn't seem to find anything useful and spun around to look at the island behind and the paralyzed boy in the sand. Then she screamed again.

Danny gestured wildly for her to stop screeching while yelling, "Don't scream! You're going to get us in so much trouble! Now _stop!_ "

Fortunately, the girl listened and her mouth shut with an audible _click_. Danny sighed, relieved that she had done as he said while the violet-eyed girl looked him over, panting for breath. The teen boy felt a small blush rise to his cheeks as he realized how terrible he must've looked. His hair was greasy, he had no shirt or shoes, scars littered his skin from stupid accidents and the crash, and his jeans couldn't be any more sun-bleached than they were at the moment. Furthermore, he was covered in layers of dirt and sand from the sheer amount of times he found himself tripping and getting smacked around by the trees.

Saying he looked like a wreck would've been a nice way of putting his disastrous state.

Despite the fact he was probably going to be judged at any moment, Danny tried to give his best smile to reassure her. After all, she did just wash up on an unfamiliar island with an unfamiliar boy hovering over her and if that wasn't scary as hell, Danny didn't think anything could be.

From the look on her face, the teen boy could tell she was confused and freaked out. Anyone in their right mind would be and all the girl asked was, "Where am I?! Who are you?! What happened?!"

Putting his hands in the air to calm the girl, Danny laughed nervously at the questions. He stalled answering by taking his time to stand up since he knew his height probably wouldn't scare the girl at all. Danny was a tiny thing, especially when he compared himself to Skulker's impressive 6'2. The older man said he would sprout up eventually but the teen didn't think so. He might if he was living in the right conditions but he wouldn't if he was still living on the island.

"Calm down. You're fine." Danny assured before he rethought his last statement. Her burns had just been healed and she'd probably be feeling the effects of his powers anytime now. While he thought about that, he continued, "Well, mostly… My name's Danny. I have no idea what happened to you; you just kind of washed up on shore. As for where we are… Yeah, you probably don't want to know the answer to that one."

The ebony-haired girl glared at him and, if he hadn't gotten the same look from the other adults many times before, Danny would have withered away into a dried up husk with its intensity. She hissed a low, "Where the hell are we?"

"Uh…" Danny muttered anxiously, shifting his eyes around so he wouldn't meet the girl's terrifying glare. He shuffled around in the sand, wondering if he should attempt to dodge the question or just outright tell her. On one hand, he didn't want her to freak again but, on the other, the probability of something happening before he could calmly tell her was quite high and her freak out would be bigger than if he told her bluntly. So, with a sigh, Danny replied, "We're on a huge island that has been oh-so-affectionately named Monster Island."

Danny expected the pause that came after his statement. He was counting on her screaming when she finally realized just exactly what it was that he said but the girl's expression had drained of its animosity and her eyes were vacantly staring at him now. Then he noticed she wasn't even really staring _at_ him; it was more like they were staring _through_ him. The girl's eyes and her quiet-as-death stillness gave Danny the chills and it freaked him out a little.

When the girl continued her silent treatment, Danny hesitantly began waving his arms back and forth to grab her attention as he called, "Uh, girl? Hey! You ok? I know it's kind of a big shocker and all but it's not that bad! Really..! Hey girl, come on! Please answer me!"

It was like she was unconscious all over again. Danny wondered if something might be wrong with her brain or something. Or maybe it was just shock? The teen boy wished he knew these things.

"You… You mean we're _stuck_ on _Godzilla's home turf_?!" The girl shrieked at Danny. Her violet eyes were suddenly wide and panicked and why _wouldn't_ she be? After all, she was just washed up on the island that harbored most of the of the world's population of kaiju, which was life's way of saying 'you're screwed.' The girl had every right to be terrified out of her mind.

But did she have to _shriek like a banshee_?!

"Don't scream!" Danny yelled again, wildly waving his arms again in a 'no-no' gesture. After all, if he remembered correctly, the king of the island usually grew irritated at the high-pitched sound and an irritated kaiju was not good. "Yes, I know this looks bad! It looks terrible, even! But screaming makes it worse! Just stay calm and be quiet for a minute!"

Yet again, the girl's mouth closed with another audible sound as her teeth crashed against each other. With her wide, terrified, violet eyes, the raven-haired girl looked to him for his next words and, grateful the girl knew how to listen, Danny smiled and soothingly said, "Alright, look. Living on the island isn't nearly as terrifying as it sounds. Yes, it is scary sometimes but not full-blown horror movie material." Ok, that might be a lie. Danny had been scared shitless plenty of times. He tried not to think about it as he continued, "The monsters that live here are pretty peaceful. …most of the time. I mean, I've only seen Godzilla, considering this is his part of the island but the entire island tends to shake when any of the monsters are having problems with each other. And that doesn't happen so they're moderately peaceful creatures."

That couldn't have been any more of a rant, Danny realized as he reached his arm to rub the back of his neck in his signature nervous gesture. He continued smiling at the girl, despite how weak it was, and hoped the girl wouldn't catch on to his apparent nervousness.

The girl didn't outwardly express that she knew Danny was just trying to calm her down- and possibly failing –as she shook her head. Her ebony strands whipped around her face before she stopped, looking up at Danny with a confused expression. "How would you know all this?"

Danny felt the smallest of hums bubble in his throat as the question echoed in his head. Something ached inside him as he thought about all the time that had passed and the events that had taken place throughout his memory: the accidents, the deaths, the disappearances, the solitude. Sure, there were the good times too but the ones he held dear to himself were few and far between. Despite Monster Island being the only home he'd ever known, the raven-haired boy really hated it sometimes.

A thought flashed through his head ( _'I remember a time I barely reached Skulker's waist. I was almost to his shoulders the last time he was around.'_ ) and, for some reason, it made his chest hurt. He shooed it away quickly as he forced a smile in the girl's direction. "I don't think you quite understand how long I've lived on the island."

The teen boy barely had a chance to finish his sentence when a tremor rocked the ground, shook the trees behind him, and shuffled the sand around his feet. The waves sloshed behind the violet-eyed girl, sending small sprays of mist into the air before they settled back in the salty ocean again. Startled, the girl whirled her head around to watch the rocking of the earth in its fullest glory as the earth gave way.

The tremor eased away a second later but that didn't stop Danny from darting forward towards his new companion as he mumbled, " _Shit…_ "

Grabbing the girl's arm, Danny pulled her to her feet and began racing towards the tree-line as he nervously said, "We need to hide!"

They had barely reached the forest when the earth shook under their feet again. If he hadn't been through this situation before, Danny surely would've tripped over his own feet. However, he was used to running across the rattling ground and hurried along steadily. The only problem was the girl stumbling behind him. She was unsteady from Danny's abrupt pull and the shaking ground. The raven-haired boy found himself pulling her on track a lot as he led her through the dense foliage and towards his 'kaiju bunker.' When he finally ran across it, Danny not-so-gently (which was an accident) pushed the girl to the ground and ushered her into a small, hollowed-out hole in the side of a steep cliff. He mumbled, "Get inside. Go as deep as you can."

Fortunately, the ebony-haired girl continued to listen to whatever he said and began plank-walking inside the small hole. Danny scanned the sky as she shuffled inside and blanched when he saw the top of the King of Monster's head, which meant he had little time before the huge kaiju made it to his and the girl's spot. Luckily, the violet-eyed girl was fast and Danny quickly ducked into the cave behind her, pressing his side against hers so he could stay as far away from the entrance as he could.

In all seriousness, Danny wasn't overly worried about being spotted. He wasn't even anxious about the King of Monsters finding out there was a new human on the island. The teen didn't think Godzilla cared all that much, so long as they weren't bothering him. Danny just always found cover when the massive, hulking figure came around, like a child hid when they heard their parents coming to see if they were smart enough to know their kid was there. It was a game.

Danny perked a little bit when he felt the new girl rest her chin on his shoulder, attempting to see farther out of the cave. He paid little attention to the gesture as the ground rumbled again, sending dust and pebbles raining from the low ceiling above him. He held his breath nervously as Godzilla's foot landed fifty yards from his and the girl's hiding spot, waiting for the girl to scream. Danny released his breath when she didn't make a sound and he cautiously began peeking out of the entrance of the small cavern.

Blue eyes traveled up the large, black frame. Danny had to crane his neck to see Godzilla's massive head, which was swiveling around to scan the beach. Danny figured he was confused by the wreckage scattered across the sandy surface since the last time he'd come around to the beach, none of the debris was there. The King of Monsters investigated it for a little longer before his attention became directed at the boy watching him. Danny ducked back into his enclosure the minute Godzilla's black eyes landed on him and the teen mentally began cursing repeatedly.

 _Dammit!_ He could never win!

The black-haired teen was reminded of the other human stuck with him when she shifted beside him. Danny looked over his shoulder, saw her mouth was open to ask a question, and he shook his head at her. The girl closed her mouth again and boy turned his attention back to the entrance. Laying his chin on the ground, Danny wondered if the King of Monsters was going to stick around and investigate or just leave.

An answer came in the form of Godzilla's foot lifting off the ground. Danny heard a magnificent splash in the distance as the ground rumbled under him again. There were a few tremors as the giant kaiju waded into the sea before the teen could hear the large beast fall forward, slipping under the waves with little trouble.

Listening to the waves slosh and beat against each other, Danny pushed himself back up and began climbing out of the cavern. He thought the girl would follow after him but she stayed put. Looking over his shoulder, Danny saw she was still frightened over the whole ordeal and he smiled at her. "It's fine. He's gone now. It'll take awhile for the waves to calm down but it doesn't take anymore than a few seconds for him to get below the surface."

"Are you sure?" The girl asked hesitantly, frowning at him.

Danny nodded and hummed a reassuring confirmation before pulling himself out from the cavern completely. The raven-haired boy hopped into a crouch before reaching into the hole again. It took a few seconds but Danny felt his new companion take a hold of his hand and the teen pulled her out and onto her feet again, still grinning. The girl only looked up at him weirdly, as if she couldn't believe he could be happy when they had just seen something terrifying.

The boy ignored it, though, as he released the girl's hands, crossed his arms over his chest, and commented, "You know… You never did tell me your name, even though I gave you mine."

The girl's nerves seemed to settle at his simple statement and she raised an eyebrow at the boy. However, she seemed to be in an indulging mood as she answered, "My name's Sam."

Ignoring how 'Sam' was typically a guy's name (as far as he could remember), Danny beamed at the answer and replied, "Awesome! You already know my name so we're even!"

The boy turned on his heel and began waltzing in the direction of the trail that would lead back to his little hovel. After all, Sam was going to need a place to stay and he had plenty of room back at the cave. He remembered a time when it had been filled with others but swept the darkening thoughts aside as he realized his new companion wasn't following him. Stopping and looking over his shoulder, Danny saw Sam standing where he had left her, watching him with a stupid expression on her face. Beaming at his new company, Danny said, "Well Sam, are you going to follow me? I'd be kind of offended if you didn't want to be with me, seeing as I am the only other human on the island."

Sam shook her head before stumbling over to his side, barely catching herself from following over on her face. Danny laughed but the girl didn't seem to really care as she joined his side. Impulsively, Danny linked his arm with hers and began walking further into the woods with her by his side.

Of course, it took a minute for the teen boy to realize what he had done. A small tentacle of fear curled up inside him, wondering if taking her arm like a long-time friend would scare Sam or make her uncomfortable. Danny contemplated dropping his arm but perked when he felt Sam tighten her arm around his with a friendly smile on her face. Danny beamed down at her, glad to have made a friend.

* * *

 **When I wrote this, I thought it sucked. Reading through it, it doesn't suck nearly as bad as I thought it did! It pleases me! Now I can write the next chapter without doubts about this one! *dances* As for the Talent-readers, I hope you weren't bored reading this. I just couldn't find a reason to completely rewrite quotes and everything when there was nothing wrong with ch.7's material.**

 **And to answer SweetyKinz's question, YES. Monster Island is a legit thing with many reboots. Girl, why do you hurt me like this? XD**

 **Thanks for favoriting and/or following:** ** _definitelynotakiller, Wooster, Saramaster, SweetyKinz_ (Why do I even bother waiting for you to fav/follow to put your name down? You always do within the first day! XD), _roselin, Meika-Rei Z, Kimera20, Reading for escape, MoonShadow7117, kitkatkate2008, LungaleMaster, StitchingUpShadows, Fati Sid._**


	3. Bonding

Ch. 3: Bonding

It was easy leading the new girl through the wild forest. Sam knew how to keep pace with Danny as they slipped past overgrown shrubs, ferns, and bushes. The ebony-haired girl always ducked under the low hanging branches easily, which Danny was surprised by. After all, any other person would still be stiff and aching from the use of his powers on them but he guessed she was unaware of any of the aches reverberating through her limbs.

Dodging past another fern and ducking under another low-hanging tree-branch, Danny casually asked his new companion, "So Sam, what happened that led you to drift onto Monster Island's beach?"

Beside him, Sam hummed contemplatively and frowned in thought as she reviewed her memory. For a moment, Danny was scared she would end up just like him before the violet-eyed girl answered confidently, "I was on a yacht. It belonged to my parents' friends. They were excited because it was new, expensive, etc."

Yeah, Danny wouldn't know but that explained why everything in the wreckage was so ornamental and totally _useless_.

"They had never had a boat either and it was their first." Sam continued casually, looking towards the sky. Her pretty purple eyes were far away, remembering the events that had happened as Danny led her through the jungle around them. Her voice was dry as she said, "Like typical snobs, they wanted to show it off and invited my parents to go along and I was roped into going with them. It was fine for the first of hours, I guess, but then… Something happened down below."

Again, Danny found himself worrying. Her irritated tone had suddenly turned uncertain. Whether it was from simply not knowing what it was that happened or having her memories fade away like his, Danny didn't know. He wanted to ask but couldn't get his voice to work as she began to easily continue, "I don't know what but, suddenly, the boat was on fire and people were jumping ship. I, obviously, jumped as well with a life preserver under my arms. I floated for a bit, trying to find my parents in the confusion, but the boat blew. I was hit in the head with a wooden plank and the next thing I know is your face hovering above mine."

With how easily her tone went from melancholy to teasing, Danny couldn't help the laugh that escaped his throat. His worry evaporated effortlessly. The ebony-haired boy vaguely noticed through his mirth that he and Sam were finally merging onto his familiar route home. His bare feet stepped past small, scurrying creatures and tiptoed over rocks that would cause pain in his feet.

Sam, smiling softly, watched him and Danny wondered why she seemed so interested in him (though it never occurred to him that maybe it was because he was very well-versed in the ways of Monster Island). Curiously, the girl blinked owlishly at him and asked, "So how did you get here?"

Danny didn't want to go into his back-story- or, lack thereof –but he shrugged at the girl with his usual uncertainty when it came to dealing with what happened before he woke up, floating in the middle of the ocean on a suitcase with six _fine_ companions. Danny replied, "I was in a plane crash. I don't remember anything that happened, just that I washed up on shore with a few other survivors on a bunch of suitcases. I must've hit my head on something hard during the crash." Understatement. With how disconnected everything was, he probably hit his head hard against something _multiple_ times. "The other survivors and I lived here for awhile but, one by one, everyone just disappeared or died until it was only me."

Suddenly wide-eyed in shock, Sam sputtered, "H-How long ago was the crash?!"

Well, that depended on some things, Danny mused. Not bothered all that much by the girl's shock, Danny asked, "Do you know the date?"

Sam blinked once at him before she replied, "April 30th, 2014."

"Damn." Danny muttered in surprise. Sure, he had known a lot of time had gone by but that much? With all that had happened since he had washed up on Monster Island's shore, it hadn't felt like too much time had passed…but, when he began thinking about it, what he remembered felt like an eternity. The feeling made his head spin and Danny sarcastically mumbled, "Time flies when you're having fun…or fighting for your life. But what's the difference really?"

"How long ago?" Sam suddenly cut back in, snapping Danny's attention back towards her as he ducked past a bushy branch he knew had an ungodly amount of chiggers in it.

Recalling his age, Danny shrugged stupidly and gave the ebony-haired girl another smile in hopes of masking his sudden dizziness as he replied, "I was just about to turn twelve at the time and, according to your timeframe, I turned sixteen just a few weeks ago. It's been roughly four years."

Danny wasn't prepared for Sam to become a statue and yelped as he was jerked back, his arm still tightly locked with hers. His wide, blue eyes looked her over for anything wrong but her violet eyes were suddenly glassy and far-away again. The teen boy frowned at the familiar, vacant look and wondered why Sam kept retreating into herself like that. While Danny wanted to just be annoyed by it, he found himself worried with thoughts of brain damage fluttering through his head. However, he also wanted to give her time to process and stood by her side, tightening his arm around hers in hopes of being a solid foundation.

This idea began crumbling when Sam refused to come out of her stunned state. With a frown, Danny waved his hand in front of the new girl's face and, in hopes of rousing the girl from her stupor, began calling, "Hey Sam? Are you ok? I know Monster Island is kind-of a shocker but-"

 _BAM_ , Sam suddenly wrapped her arms around Danny's middle, clinging to him tightly. Danny jerked back from her but Sam stayed tightly pressed against him. The teen boy steadied himself while he looked down at the ebony-haired girl with wide eyes. His arms hovered over her smaller body anxiously. Danny, unsure and uncertain all over again by Sam's actions, asked, "S-Sam?"

"I'm sorry."

Danny blinked confusedly, frowning down at the girl. Sam hadn't said or done anything mean to him that would be worthy of an apology. Sure, she had joked but they were just teases. Their meeting hadn't been all that stellar, after all, and it was worthy of being joked about. What could she possibly be sorry about?

"What for?" Danny asked.

"I don't know. But I'm sorry."

There were a few more moments where Danny stayed frozen, puzzled. However, Sam wasn't relaxing her grip and the ebony-haired boy honestly liked the feeling. He was also reminded of his first day on the island. With zero memories and with no grasp of what was 'normal,' he'd often sought out comfort from Kitty, who had needed it just as badly. (Occasionally, Johnny would join them, which was rather comical, looking back on it.)

Dropping his arms around Sam, the boy rested his head on hers. Danny didn't say anything and Sam didn't either. The only sounds came from the wind brushing the trees together but it went unnoticed by the two teens. They were perfectly still against each other, careful not to disrupt what connection they had happened to make in such a short time.

Then Sam laughed and Danny pulled away from her to smile and ask, "What are you laughing at?"

The raven-haired girl shook her head at the taller figure, chuckling quietly under her breath. Her damp hair swayed back and forth with the movement of her head and her eyes laughed too. Teasingly, Sam replied, "It's nothing. Although, I am curious… Were you always so painstakingly optimistic?"

Danny laughed again and shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe? You should probably ask someone who knew me before all this crap happened. I don't think I'm much of a reliable source."

The raven-haired boy tugged at Sam's hand as she laughed again. Danny led the new girl farther along the path and deeper into the forest surrounding them. Danny twisted through the familiar foliage easily as he wandered through the jungle, leading the oblivious girl behind him easily by the hand. The teen boy could easily say that his new friend was much more relaxed now, impossible as it seemed on such a horror-ridden island.

As the path began running alongside the river that would lead to Danny's cave home, he could hear Sam gasp in surprise behind him. The teen grinned, taking in the beauty of the river and the surrounding forest. The trees stood tall and harbored all sorts of birds. The shrubs and ferns on the ground were wild and overgrown. The river ran downstream quickly, sparkling like diamonds in the sunlight. Small fish swam in the cool water, hiding between the rocks that littered the bottom and the sides of the river.

"In all of my four years here, I never get tired of the view." Danny said, smiling back at Sam as her eyes continued to look out at the scenery. She hummed back at him, averting her violet orbs to his blue ones. Danny smiled at her again before looking towards the path in front of him, brushing plants out of his way as he made his way back to camp.

It was quiet again for a little while before Sam curiously asked, "So what's it like living here?"

Danny looked over his shoulder to stare at the girl briefly before he shrugged and ducked under one of the branches that had smacked him that morning. "Well, it's kind of boring. I mean, every day I go out and find food. I always make sure I have enough wood to burn. I don't have to worry about water much; the stream is freshwater and clean. Really, I just make sure I have everything I need. If I'm all set for awhile, I like to explore, though I'm sure I haven't even made a dent covering the entire island."

All in all, living on the island was kind of easy and really boring sometimes. The days he found exciting were the ones he found himself falling out of trees trying to get to some high-up fruit that he could barely reach or backing away slowly from a snake or some other dangerous animal. However, he wasn't going to tell Sam that quite yet. After all, she didn't need to know his warped sense of "fun" was until later.

"And what do you do when Godzilla suddenly appears?" Sam asked, suddenly stepping a few paces closer to Danny. The teen boy didn't think she realized she had done it and Danny didn't say anything about.

"What we did today: hide." Danny answered casually while he carefully stepped over a log. He watched for a moment to see if anything inside would stir but nothing happened. Sam climbed over behind him as he continued, "I don't know why I bother. He's never been aggressive towards me. I seem to be a mere nuisance and he always manages to find me anyways. Even today he saw me." Danny looked over his shoulder and smiled, though it was slightly irritated. He had a feeling that bastard of a kaiju was always smug about his victories. "Sometimes I think he gets a sick enjoyment watching me scramble around."

Despite his small joke, Sam frowned in worried as she brushed a hanging, bushy vine out of her way. "Do you think he'll be aggravated by me?"

Having already thought about the question before, Danny wasn't overly worried about the King of Monster's reaction. He shrugged in response to the girl's question and replied, "I don't see why he would. After all, there used to be more of us and he wasn't overly concerned. In all seriousness, I don't think he really cares we're here. I know this is going to sound kind of insane but…" Oh, this was going to sound way more than insane but it's not like the ebony-haired girl had anywhere else to go. Despite the fact he was right, Danny mentally scolded himself for even thinking such a thing before continuing, "I think he and I have a weird, mutual respect thing going on between us. I mean, he's the frikkin King of Monsters and I managed to stay alive this long on his island. That's got to count for something, doesn't it?"

By the look on the girl's face, Danny knew Sam was agreeing with his earlier statement of sounding insane. However, with a few minutes of silence and stepping past bug infested bushes, Sam looked like she didn't think it was as farfetched as she originally thought as she asked, "And why do you think that, Danny?"

Danny couldn't help it. He smiled at the use of his name. It had been a long time since it had been used by another person and it sounded so nice to him. It was stupid and trivial but the ebony-haired teen liked hearing his name from another person.

Looking over his shoulder, Danny met Sam's eyes and he slowed his steps a little bit. He could vividly remember one of the most interesting and terrifying days of his life. It was easy going back to the memory as he replied, "Well, there was a time not too long after all the other survivors disappeared and/or died that I caught some bug. I stayed in my shelter for the entirety of a couple of days, which the old kaiju seemed to notice. He started coming by my shelter, briefly checking up on me each day until I finally got better and started leaving. He stopped coming by after that."

Sam didn't reply right away to his explanation so Danny looked forward to the path again so he wouldn't trip and fall over for the fiftieth time that day. Danny continued to lead the thinking girl through the forest by the hand, making sure she wouldn't trip or step on something that would come back to bite her (literally and figuratively).

Finally, Sam asked, "How often do you see Godzilla?"

That was an easy enough question to answer, Danny mused as he replied, "Eh, around five or six times a week, I figure. I mean, I don't keep count of the days so I'm guessing but it'd explain why my absence was so noticeable."

The two ducked under another branch. Danny recognized it as another one of the ones that had whipped him across the face. They were everywhere, it seemed.

Sam tightened her hand around Danny's and the teen squeezed back in reassurance, though he wasn't sure what had set her off this time. He didn't mind though. Looking over his shoulder, Danny smiled and continued, "Although, when he suddenly goes off into the water like he did today, he's usually not back for a week or two, leaving me totally hanging. It's a weird thing he does." A _really_ weird thing was more like it. "I've been worried lately, though. His trips just keep getting shorter and he keeps appearing more frequently."

"Do you have any idea why he's suddenly restless?" Sam asked, once again drawing closer to her guide without noticing her own actions.

Not being able to help it, Danny snorted at the question. After all, it wasn't like he was an expert on all things kaiju. He wished he was but he was far from it, really. After all, he'd only ever come across one and said King of Monsters wasn't a very social creature. How Godzilla even managed to stay in contact with another kaiju long enough to have a kid eluded Danny.

Shaking his head, Danny replied to the girl, "Not a clue. It's not like I can just go up and ask him about his problems. Yeah, that'd go over _real well_."

Rolling her eyes, Sam said, "Ah, shut up."

"But you love my voice!"

"Pushing it, boy."

Danny laughed, pushing past a large wall of ferns and low-hanging branches to enter the clearing that marked the edge of his HQ. The cave was off to the side and the river wasn't too far off. The teen blushed when he could see the mess inside his little shelter, suddenly self-conscious about the little hovel he called home. After all, Sam just came from a really expensive yacht with equally expensive décor and he had…a cave.

Looking down to see the girl's expression, she didn't look disgusted or repulsed (not that it would have mattered in the long run). Sam looked more curious than anything else, taking in Danny's little haven to its fullest extent. Her head swiveled around to look at everything and her hand loosened around Danny's, something he took notice of. He relaxed his grip on her hand, as well.

Danny looked around the clearing again as well. A small smile tugged at his lips when he remembered the first he and his crew had stumbled upon it. Everyone had been relieved. Well… Everyone but Skulker. The ultra-survivalist in him had been suspicious of the fine looking shelter and water supply only meters away. The green-haired man had looked through the entire clearing, studying each and every crevice he found with the upmost certainty that something about it was wrong. The shelter was too good to be true.

After two days of studying the clearing as the others camped out in a man-made shelter on the beach, Skulker finally gave the green light to use the cave begrudgingly. It took another two weeks to finally convince the man fully that there was nothing wrong with the find and one more week for Johnny to finally make Skulker admit it. After verbally confessing to his unneeded suspicious behavior, Kitty rightly called him a "stubborn bastard."

It was such a hilarious memory. It made Danny smile brightly as he watched the girl continue to take everything in. He barely managed to contain the laughter that wanted to explode from his mouth. Skulker's face had just been so funny and Walker and Johnny had shaken the island with their mirth while Kitty smiled smugly at the green-haired male.

"You know, you should probably go wash off in the river. You're covered in sand and dried blood." Danny said without thinking, feeling light as a feather.

"What?! Blood?!"

Then he blanched at his own words and barely suppressed the urge to smack himself silly for being so insensitive.

Sam released Danny's hand to extend both of her arms so she could look herself up and down. The teen boy hid his face in his hands as Sam studied her body, looking for the invisible wounds that were releasing the blood Danny had spoken of. The only thing she found marring her skin were white, blotchy scars that told the story of ghastly wounds. Something it couldn't tell was the story of how quickly the wounds had healed.

Danny waited for her reaction as he continued to hide his head in his hands. It would come anytime-

" _What the hell?!_ "

-now… Hm, Danny was expecting a bigger explosion but that would work too.

Dropping one hand to his side and the other finding the back of his neck, Danny chuckled nervously at his bewildered new friend. "Uh, yeah, you see… Um, how do I explain this as simply as possible? When you washed up on shore, I think you were hit with more than just a plank of wood because you were covered in gashes… That's not the point, though. The point is I'vegotthisfreakyabilitythatletsmehealmyselfandothersreally,reallyquickly."

Instead of looking astonished or creeped out, Sam only looked confused as she replied, " _What?_ Say that again now."

"...I've got a freaky ability that lets me heal others and me quickly. I healed you before you woke up because it's kind of painful. You probably feel really achy right now because of it but I don't think you've noticed with how much crap's been going on." Danny replied, sighing. He tried forcing a smile but it was too hard and he stopped quickly. He couldn't seem to make his lips work correctly.

Sam stared at him curiously before frowning and unconsciously rolling her shoulders. She shook her head before replying, "Alright, yea, I think I'll go wash off, like you said."

Danny perked at her lack of surprise, watching as she only smiled at him before wandering towards the stream. For a moment, he only watched her walk away from him before his brain told him he had things to do. Shaking his head, he called, "Uh, I'll be in the cave!"

The raven-haired girl waved to show she heard as Danny turned and began hurrying over to the hollow in the side of the cliff edge. He breathed a sigh as he began looking everything over, wondering what he was going to do. From the looks of it, he had enough food for the both of them for now, he'd start a fire a little while later, but there was only one "bed." Danny had to fix that.

Dropping to his knees in front of his usual resting place, Danny pushed the pile of clothes to the side. Looking through it, he tried to find the cleanest articles he could but, again, he was reminded that it'd been four years. The clothing had been through as much crap as he had. Some of it had been worn by him before he'd either grown out of it or managed to destroy the clothes (accidents happen). Other articles had been worn by the rest of his crew before they too had worn the clothing down and switched their attire with something else.

The teen boy was being so meticulous with his separating that he didn't notice Sam finishing up in the stream and getting out. The girl was dripping as she entered the cave, despite her attempts at ringing out her clothes and hair. As she stopped by Danny's side, she smiled and asked, "So whatcha doing?"

Chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of his neck, Danny replied, "Uh, well, I was making a makeshift bed for you but I'm kinda failing. I think I'll just let you take my spot for the night so I don't have to deal with it today."

Sam had no qualms about reaching out and pushing Danny onto his back via his face. The boy yelped as he fell back, pin-wheeling before he hit the ground. Looking up in surprise, Danny saw that Sam had taken his spot and was breezing through the work he had been so careful about. It made Danny laugh at her casualness.

Danny couldn't see the smile Sam wore as she asked, "Where'd you get all this stuff?"

"Like I said, I woke up floating on a suitcase that was my make-shift raft." The blue-eyed teen repeated as he pushed himself up. "The others were the same way and considering how hard it is to get materials on an untouched island, we pretty much kept everything. Anything can be useful around here. I plan on going back to the beach later to pick through the debris from your crappy mishap. You can come if you want."

Sam nodded, signaling she wanted to go with him. Danny hummed quietly to himself, hoping he remembered where he had been through the wreckage before he'd come across the floating girl and the fiasco of a day had started spiraling out of control.

"What was your group like?"

The question came out of nowhere and Danny paused for a moment to figure out what Sam had asked. He blinked at her back before laughing breathlessly, scooting closer to watch her work. She wouldn't meet his eye as he answered, "Well… They were cool, I guess. I was the only kid. The rest of the group was made up of the leader, Skulker, a guy named Johnny and his girlfriend, Kitty, an egomaniac, Walker, a college student named Elliot, and a dancer named Desiree."

Oh, they had been an interesting bunch, alright. With their varying personalities and attitudes, anyone from the mainland would've laughed at the thought of them getting stuck on an island together. Sure, in the end, the laughter would've been justified but it wouldn't be for lack of trying.

With the image of the leader of their impossible group in his head, Danny continued, "The only reason any of us made it as far as we did was because Skulker was one of those extreme survivalists. It sure came in handy and he whipped us into shape real quick."

Danny remembered the groaning of others as he smartly stayed quiet behind the older male. Skulker had tolerated him the best because of his quietness as he rolled his eyes at the immature adults who doubted they would live, no matter what they did. However, Skulker had been a determined man and he was going to die trying to survive.

Of course… "It wasn't enough for some of us, though. We all had wounds from the crash but everyone noticed mine had healed and scarred way too quickly to be normal. It was the first time I used my abilities and I tried my hardest to fix the others. I got through Johnny, Kitty, Skulker, and Walker without too much trouble but, at the time, my powers were still unstable. I caused them a lot of pain healing them up." Danny stated, frowning as he stared at Sam's moving hands.

Finding out his powers could be spread to others had been an accident. They had been sitting on the beach to rest and he'd been sitting beside Kitty. Danny had been brushing his hands near her a cut on her hand and it'd magically started to heal. Of course, Kitty had yelped in surprise at the stinging pain, which had startled Danny enough to make him jump back in surprise. Walker had been behind him and had just about smacked Danny for the intrusion of his personal space before Kitty had smacked Walker for even _thinking_ about hitting a kid.

After Skulker broke the two adults away from each other and Danny was restored to Kitty's protective arms (oh, Johnny had been _so_ jealous), Skulker had interrogated the two about their ridiculous behavior. It eventually came around to what had startled Kitty, leading to the theory of Danny's abilities. The speculations eventually led to the discovery of what he could do. However, healing didn't come with pain nullification, it seemed.

"When I tried to heal Elliot, I ended up making everything worse instead of helping. Again, my abilities were unstable and it was hard enough getting the other four back together. Skulker made me stop trying and figured we would find a way to heal Desiree and Elliot normally. I guess it wasn't meant to be because they both got an infection and, eventually, died."

There had been a lot of blood with Elliot. Instead of knitting the skin together, it was like the skin unraveled further and it wouldn't stop bleeding for a long time. Danny had been mortified and had to be dragged away so Skulker and the others could attempt fixing it. They eventually got it to stop. Elliot didn't like him too much after that incident.

Desiree hadn't been too happy at the turn of events but she sucked it up better than Elliot. She had treated Danny indifferently but, then again, she had been like that to everything. It wasn't personal.

But then, did it matter? Within a few weeks, both Elliot and Desiree were gone and buried not too far from the shelter. Danny hadn't been to visit that part of the island in a long time.

Danny perked when he felt Sam's hand being placed on his shoulder. Looking to the side, he saw the girl had taken a seat beside him with an obvious frown on her face. Sam reassuringly said, "You couldn't have done anything; I hope you know that."

"I know. It doesn't stop me from thinking I could've done something, though." Danny replied truthfully, shrugging. After all, how could a person not think about it? They had a chance to help someone else and completely screwed it up. Part of the fault fell on them, no matter how much they were assured it wasn't.

"The others lasted a lot longer, at least. I'm guessing we were a few months into it when Kitty and Johnny went out to find some food. Kitty was the only one that came back. She never told us what happened to Johnny." Danny continued, thinking back to the night Kitty had come back alone with a wet face, though she she'd stop crying long before she made it back. Skulker had been furious and demanded to know where the girl's boyfriend was. She had vacantly replied that Johnny was dead and said nothing more that night, despite the other male's questioning. Danny had been silent throughout the ordeal and spent the night near Kitty at all times in an attempt to be comforting.

"The next person to go was Walker. He was bitten by one of the few snakes on the island. It was poisonous and he died a few hours after the incident. When Walker was bitten, I had gotten better at my powers by working on any wound, big or small, the others came back with so we could avoid even the smallest of infections. I tried with Walker but my powers don't really work with venoms, it seems."

At the point in time, they had come across only a dozen snakes and managed to avoid physical contact with them up until that point. Walker had been the first of the dwindling group to be hurt by any of the few predators on the island and he'd made a big fuss about it too. He only stopped talking when he finally became too weak to speak.

Danny had been put on watching-Walker duty while Kitty and Skulker brainstormed what to do. The teen had put up with the man's complaints up until the point Walker had begun shutting down for good. It was the first time Danny could ever remember wishing for someone to continue being irritating and stubborn.

They buried Walker by Desiree, Elliot, and the memorial stone for Johnny.

"After that, it was Kitty. I don't know how but she somehow managed to contract some kind of virus. Once again, my powers were completely useless and a few days after catching the bug, she died. That left me and Skulker."

Kitty was the only person in the group Danny had cried for. He and the woman had been close from the beginning. Something about them just clicked and it was easy getting along. Danny hadn't realized it at the time but Kitty seemed to have enjoyed babying the boy when he was younger and his younger-self hadn't objected. It had been nice to know someone cared when everyone else seemed to be looking out for their own survival.

The young teen had been with Kitty the entire time she had been sick. Skulker, for once, had been sympathetic and left Danny alone with the woman as he took care of everything else. It had been one of the longest few days of Danny's life and burying the woman was a drag.

Skulker and Danny attempted searching for Johnny's body so they could rest it beside Kitty's. They never even found the necklace that had dangled around his throat.

Before Danny could go on to the next part of his story, Sam cut him off and said, "You know you don't have to be sharing any of this with me, right?"

The ebony-haired boy smiled at her concerned expression, though he didn't feel all that happy. However, he was finding himself enjoying having a new friend again and having the ability to poor his heart out. He replied, "I know but I like sharing with someone. I haven't had the chance in a long time."

Talking was freeing for Danny, in a way. He vividly remembered sitting around the fire at night and listening to the adults tell stories about their lives before the plane-crash. He always sat beside Kitty, leaning into her side as Johnny wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Walker and Skulker always sat on the other side of the fire, creating a disjointed circle. There had been many times where they had all laughed until they cried or cried until they ran out of tears.

Danny had always wanted to join in the stories but he had no stories to tell. They were all gone, lost in the dark recesses of his mind. It always made him feel a little left out but everyone, even Elliot, had been pretty nice about his memory loss.

"Anyway, with no one else left to help, Skulker began teaching me all about 'the fine art of surviving.'" Danny teasingly said, dropping his voice in a poor imitation of the man that had once been his mentor-of-sorts. Sam laughed and Danny grinned as he continued, "He taught me everything he knew, making sure I knew how to take care of myself so I could help the two of us survive. It was just us for the longest time and then, eight months ago, I'm guessing, he went off to find food and never came back. I don't know if he's dead or alive and I probably never will, unless I find a body. I've been alone since."

Damn, he hadn't meant to make the last part sound sad. After all, there wasn't much of a difference between living with Skulker and being alone. The green-haired male didn't talk too much, more focused on more pressing matters than having a conversation. Danny was usually the one who yapped away and, looking back, it was amazing that Skulker hadn't ever really told the teen to shut up.

Danny was pulled from his musings when Sam took his hand again and smiled again at him, trying to be reassuring. "Well, you have me now and I'm going to make sure you teach me everything Skulker taught you, got it?"

"OOO, this is going to be fun~!" Danny said in a teasing, sing-song way. He wanted to laugh but the teen wanted to hide the truth from her a little longer. It was going to be hilarious for him when he revealed how much _hell_ she was going to have to go through.

Sam laughed obliviously before moving back over to the work she had left unfinished. With a few swipes of her hand, there were two beds resting beside each other and Sam was asking if they were going to go pick through the debris. Danny nodded and stood up, reaching his hand out to help her up. The girl took it without a word, letting herself be pulled to her feet with a grin. They began exiting the cave and Danny asked, "So… What was your life like? You know, back wherever-it-is that you lived?"

With a grin, Sam hummed and answered, "Well, there's not much to tell… I live- or lived, I guess; I'm kind of living with you now, huh? -with my parents, Pamela and Jeremy Manson, and I had the greatest friend in the world and her name is Valerie…"

Despite saying there wasn't much to tell, Sam easily told him stories about what her life was like and told him about everyone she was even mildly acquainted with. Danny listened attentively as they made it to the beach and he led her to where he had left off. They picked through the rest of the wreckage easily with Danny asking questions about her life and Sam obliging.

Having two people working through the ruins of a luxury yacht made the time fly and Danny wasn't surprised when they found nothing even remotely useless to their cause. However, he was smiling as he listened to Sam. His happy mood was abruptly killed when Sam turned over another plank and asked, "So Danny, where were you four years ago before all this happened?"

Danny was reaching for the back of his neck and chuckling breathlessly before he even realized what he was doing. He wanted to smack himself when Sam suddenly perked to attention at the sound and, though she was facing another direction, he knew dread had suddenly overcome her. The teen boy chuckled for a few more moments before confessing, "Um, well… Remember how I told you I don't remember anything about the plane crash because my head must've hit something really hard? Well, that also goes for pretty much my entire life. I don't remember anything other than my birthday and my name: Daniel James Fenton."

Sam sighed sadly as her shoulders slumped. Danny frowned at her back and tilted his head. The teen didn't like his friend being all sad and mopey. He wondered what he could do to make her feel ok again and hesitantly began saying, "But did I tell you about the time Godzilla nearly crushed me with his foot? I was so close to becoming a smear on the ground that time."

The raven-haired girl looked over her shoulder and a curious smile was tugging at the corners of her lips. Danny grinned back and began going into the full tale, easily going back to work while Sam listened and asked questions about the stories he had managed to gather over the last few years.

As Danny told tales, he and Sam managed to find a few trinkets that they could probably use in some far-fetched situations. They carried them back to their HQ and dropped them off in a pile in the back. Danny took some time to relight the fire in the middle and, while it started small, he had it at a decent size in little time.

The two rationed out the food, mostly fruit, that Danny had managed to find the day before. They talked some more, laughing and teasing each other as they did. It was easy talking and they had no qualms acting like complete lunatics in front of the other.

Soon enough, though, they both grew tired and Sam suggested getting some sleep. Danny agreed and he eagerly laid down in his usual spot while Sam took the new spot next to him. Despite the crackling fire still blazing in the center of the cave and the hard ground beneath them, the two teens were asleep back-to-back within minutes.

As they slept, the moon moved slowly across the sky. The stars shifted unnoticeably as the earth spun around and around. The distant stars twinkled brightly in the sky and the moon covered the land with blue-white light that was nearly as bright as the headlights in a car. The land under the vast sky was quiet and still.

The two teens shifted occasionally in their sleep but settled down easily enough afterwards. The crackling fire began shrinking. The flames began dying out. The bright light that had spread throughout the cave became a dull glow as the flickering flames died out without a sound, leaving nothing but smoldering embers in their wake.

It was only a few hours later when the shaking ground woke Danny up. His eyelids fluttered before opening. Pushing himself up, the teen looked around his little encampment with apprehension. There was nothing that he could see in the back of the cave and, looking towards the mouth of the cave, there was nothing there either. Danny wondered what woke him up as he looked over his shoulder and stared at Sam's back. She was still as ever, having noticed nothing in her sleep.

The ground rocked again, though, and Danny's eyes widened in shock as they became directed towards the mouth of the cave again. He pushed himself up and onto his shaky legs, stumbling towards the exit. He rubbed the rest of the sleepiness out of his eyes as he dropped to his knees by the exit, looking out and across the world around him. Danny's mouth dropped open when he saw Godzilla trekking across the island a few miles away, though his huge size made it look as tiny as if he were only a few feet away. The moonlight made Godzilla's drenched, black hide shine as water cascaded off of him with every step. His facial features were drawn into an irritable expression or, at least, that's what Danny thought he saw. He had never been very good at guessing what Godzilla was feeling.

Behind Danny, Sam dropped to her knees and rested a hand on his shoulder. Rubbing her eyes with her free hand, she squinted and looked over her new friend's shoulder. A gasp left her mouth at the sight, whether from shock or wonder, Danny didn't know.

The huge monster paused for a moment in his trek and he turned his head to look in the direction of the cave the two teens were resting in. Danny didn't really care that Godzilla was looking them over. After all, the kaiju knew exactly where Danny and his new friend lived anyways and he was probably confused on why they up so late at night when Danny was usually sleeping the night away.

Like usual, a moment after the two teens had been spotted, Godzilla turned his head and began wandering towards his destination again. The King of Monster's footsteps shook the ground and caused dust, dirt, and pieces of the ceiling to rain down on the two teens as they watched the kaiju walk away. The farther the monster got away, the less the ground shook with his leaving.

Danny felt Sam lean closer and she whispered, "I thought you said he was gone for a week or two at a time."

The raven-haired teen frowned at her prod and replied, "I also said he'd been acting weird but… Even in his agitated state, it's crazy for him to be back so soon!" Danny sighed and shook his head, muttering, "I wonder what trouble the world is in now…"

The two stayed close together, kneeling at the mouth of cave as they watched the King of Monster's back disappear into the distance. They were quiet, watching the rocky horizon with tired eyes. Finally, Sam sighed and said, "We should go back to sleep, Danny. There's not much we can do or find out. Let's not worry about it too much."

Knowing she was right, Danny nodded and followed her back to their resting spots. Lying down, Sam closed her eyes and had little trouble falling back to sleep, breathing deeply in her slumber. Danny, however, laid awake, staring at cave wall with a frown on his face. He thought about what was going on but got nowhere. With a sigh, he turned over, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

* * *

 **Wow, that was obnoxiously long. I didn't want to go past the last chapter but look what I did! I went a whole 2000 words more! I don't know if that's good or not! *facepalm* Uh... I kill myself. My vacuum also kills me...**

 **Oh, and I forgot the timeline for the Godzilla movies for the people who are newbies: this story takes place after all the Godzilla movies except for the 2014 one (which, again, was a total disappointment). That movie is going to take place during the story, which will allow for some action-packed-ness crap I don't know if I'll write well but I will do my absolute best. XD**

 **Thanks to these people for favoriting/following:** ** _Fear the Fuzzy Bear, GuardianWitchDemiGhost, War WereWolf._**


	4. Survival 101

Ch.3: Survival 101

When Danny woke up the next morning, he was surprised to see that it wasn't his usual time (he used the word "time" loosely). Instead of the sun attempting to climb to the highest reaches of the sky like it usually was, the sun was barely breaking the horizon, painting it a dull orange while the sky remained dark with stars spotting the black canvas. The air was cooler than normal, though not uncomfortably so, and the atmosphere was sticky with humidity.

Despite going to sleep late and waking up early, Danny found he was wide awake. With an irritable frown on his face, the teen boy tried rolling over and going back to sleep but his eyes became drawn open every few minutes. It was just no use; he was awake and he wasn't going to go back to sleep for a long time.

Pushing himself up into a sitting position, Danny rubbed his face and scrubbed the sand from the corners of his eyes. After blinking away the remnants of the sandy feeling, the teen turned his head to face the girl who'd washed up on Monster Island's shores just the day before. It was weird how it felt like the events had happened an eternity ago while still somehow keeping the newness alive. It was weird and strange but he'd live with it.

From the looks of it, Sam was still deeply asleep and why wouldn't she be? After all, they'd run all around on the island the day before, stayed up late, and woke up in the middle of the night to contemplate the actions of one of the most well-known forces of nature in existence. It would've exhausted even the fittest and the most prepared of people. Monster Island was good at throwing people through the ringer like that.

The violet-eyed girl was peaceful in her slumber with her head resting on one arm and the other laying across her stomach. Her chest rose and fell evenly and, somehow, her muscles were completely relaxed. She was still and Danny was sure that she had been in that same position when she went back to sleep earlier that night.

Danny wished he could sleep that easily.

The teen silently pushed himself to his feet and tiptoed to the mouth of the cave. His wide, blue eyes searched the clearing for anything out of place but found nothing, which wasn't unusual. Sighing quietly to himself, Danny carefully walked over to the river and stopped by the edge. Looking over his shoulder, the teen watched for movement for a little bit but Sam didn't stir at his leaving. Carefully and quietly as he could, Danny stepped into the river and trudged to the deeper part before taking a deep breath and slipping under the surface of the water.

It became darker around the teen instantly as he blinked to focus his vision against the liquid. It took only a few seconds to get used to the feeling of the river against his eyes and his vision focused as far as it could, even though the dull colors were blurry and bleeding into each other. Danny's vision impairment didn't bother him as he began scrubbing furiously at his hair and scalp. The feeling of his fingernails scraping against his skin started out nice before quickly becoming an irritating ache.

The teen stopped when he felt the need for air pressing against his lungs and his hands dropped, pushing him to the surface so he could take a deep breath. His wet hair clung to his forehead and hung in his line of view a little, though not irritatingly so. Danny took a few breaths, looking towards the direction of his home again and seeing nothing, and then he fell back beneath the surface again.

Instead of scrubbing at his hair again, Danny attacked his mostly-bare body. He scrubbed away any of the dirt that stubbornly clung to his skin and got rid of all the sticky sweat. It was a hard task and the black-haired teen had to go to the surface multiple times for air before he dropped below the waterline again to continue his task quietly. Sam remained peacefully asleep in the cave, no sounds reaching her ears and drawing her from the recesses of slumber.

The routine of coming up for air and falling below the surface continued for a little while with Danny trying his hardest to clean himself up. It was a routine he practiced every other day in an attempt to get his scalp to stop flaking so badly and to get the majority of the icky dirt off of him. Though the water alone didn't help clean him all that well, it did make him feel more refreshed when he got out.

When Danny was done, he trudged back to the shore and shuddered as the cool air hit his skin. He wiped the water from his shoulders and arms and half-wished he'd striped of his jeans before he got in. Then he reminded himself that, if he had done so, the world would've decided to wake Sam up early. The thought made Danny's cheeks heat up and he shuddered again, dismissing his train of thought quickly as he made his way back to the home with a stiff gait.

Danny found a seat outside the mouth of the cave, turning himself to face the direction of the east to watch the sunrise. It was slow and boring and Danny zoned out rather quickly after watching for a few minutes. His thoughts darted every which way and the teen sighed, resting the back of his head against the rock wall behind him while he stared at the sky vacantly. The stars blinked in and out at him, as if teasingly waving to his still form.

The teen only found the sunrise interesting when the large orb began began breaking the horizon. The sky became lighter and the stars began fading away as different colors began taking over. Reds, oranges, and pinks bled across the sky and stained the clouds that were mostly invisible before. It was a beautiful sight and Danny wished he could take a picture to capture the moment forever.

The colors began draining away, though, as the sun began climbing higher into the sky. Blue replaced the warmer colors and brightened the world. Danny was just beginning to wonder if he should wake Sam up when a hand landed on his shoulder. Lifting his head, Danny grinned at the girl standing by his side and said, "Morning."

Sam smiled back and replied, "Your hair is wet."

"Yeah, that happens when I submerge myself in the river." Danny said and chuckled before getting up. Placing his hands on his hips, the raven-haired teen grinned cheekily as Sam looked him up and down with a curious, raised eyebrow. Danny just stared back and obliviously asked, "What?"

"How long have you been up?" Sam asked, studying his damp hair and jeans. Most of the water had already dried from the boy's skin, leaving him just a little damp.

Danny shrugged back and looked back to the lightening sky. It had felt like a few hours passed, though it couldn't have possibly been that long. Waiting wasn't something Danny was accustomed to and he sure didn't like it all that much. Looking back towards Sam, he replied, "I don't know but it was still dark out when I woke up. It's not a big deal."

The violet-eyed girl snorted and shook her head at the taller teen. Sam crossed her arms over her chest, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath of the morning air. Reopening her eyes, she turned her upwards towards Danny again, looked at him seriously, and said, "So… I need a recap for a moment to make sure I'm not completely losing my mind."

"Go ahead. Knock yourself out." Danny responded, suppressing the laughter that wanted to bubble from his throat. From the serious look on the girl's face and the way she confidently held herself, Danny had a feeling that laughing at her reality check would result with the palm of her hand meeting the side of his face. As far as he was aware, he hadn't ever been slapped in his life and he didn't want to suddenly break his record.

"Alright." Sam said, taking another deep breath before saying, "So the yacht I was on blew up?"

"I don't know because I wasn't there but that's what you told me, yes."

"This is Monster Island where Godzilla and his little buddies live?"

"Much to our dismay, yes it is."

"You've been here for four years?"

"Roughly four years but yes."

"And anything before those four years is a mystery to you?"

"Uh-huh."

"You also have magical healing abilities?"

"I wouldn't go so far to call them magical but, yeah, that's the gist of it."

"Alright, so my memory is correct and I'm not a total loon." Sam said to herself, nodding her head as she curiously looked around at everything with a scrutinizing gaze. There was a thoughtful frown on her face as she wondered what to do.

Danny only chuckled at his friend's antics and replied, "I'm pretty sure if you were a complete loon, you wouldn't know. All of this would just be a fantasy your brain conjured up and I'm nothing more than an imaginary friend! But you'll never figure out if this is the actual world or a fantasy, will you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Anyways~!" Danny sang happily, ignoring the way Sam was giving him a bewildered look at his 'simple' statement. Straightening his posture to look like Superman (a fictional figure that he had little knowledge on but had a feeling was adored by many), Danny announced, "Today, you and I are going to try to keep ourselves alive as we search for breakfast! Are you ready?"

"Yes?"

"Alright-y then! Let's do this!" Danny said determinedly, linking his arm with Sam's and dragging her towards the tree-line. Sam yelped as she was pulled along, stumbling after the teen boy as she lost her footing. The raven-haired girl barely managed to catch her footing before they entered the dense foliage and the two teens had to begin climbing over fallen trees and ducking under low-hanging branches and bushy vines.

"So, this is gonna be like survival 101, lesson one." Danny stated as he expertly led Sam though the jungle. He'd been trudging the forest for four years and he knew it like the back of his hand. Sure, he hadn't covered the entire forest but he hadn't needed to. Besides, he doubted he ever would make it through the entire place. It was _massive_ and covered the majority of the island.

Looking over his shoulder, Danny saw that Sam had finally caught her footing completely. He smiled when she gave him a small, playful glare for the abrupt pull on her arm but Sam knew how to catch herself quickly. She could also deal with Danny's spontaneity without too much, seeing as her parents could be a lot worse than the plane-wrecked teen.

"So," Danny started again as he scanned the trees for the one he was trying to find as he wandered through the forest. "what you need to remember about Monster Island is that it's drowning in all sorts of growing fruits. Most of it never gets eaten- or touched, for that matter –so finding the fruit isn't that much of a problem."

To prove his point, Danny stopped their trekking and pointed to the sky. Sam looked in the direction of his pointing and saw that there were bananas clinging to the thick, sturdy stem of a banana plant about eighteen feet up. The fruits were in a large cluster that could barely be counted and the peels were half-green and half-yellow. They just barely stuck out from the leafy, green fronds sprouting from the top of the plant.

"The problem with getting most of our food is getting to it." Danny continued, his grin suddenly becoming sheepish. His Superman-stance wilted away into a shy-kid slouch as he confessed, "Word of advice: try not to slip off the branch you're holding onto. Also, don't crawl onto a branch that isn't that sturdy."

With a teasing grin sprouting on her lips, Sam said, "I'm guessing you speak from experience?"

Danny chuckled nervously, still rubbing the back of his neck as he smiled shyly. " _Yeah_ , you could say that… I'm pretty sure at least one of these scars is from one of these trees or from falling on a rock. So please, refrain from doing so because I don't feel like dealing with anymore injuries on your second day of Monster Island."

Sam snorted and turned to look at the plant that held the bananas and looked it up and down for any footholds. There weren't any and she began scanning the surrounding trees for a way to get up high enough to grab the fruit. Lucky for her, there were plenty of huge trees around. However, only a few had just-as-sturdy branches of which she could climb. She had to pinpoint one carefully so she could get close enough to the banana plant. Even with finding a close one, Sam could probably grab some of the fruit only if she reached for it really carefully.

Sighing, Sam shook her head, trudged over to her tree of choice, and grabbed onto one of the lower-hanging branches (though it was still about a foot or two above her head). It didn't take much effort to pull herself up since she was about as fit as Danny and had one of the leading grades in her PE class. The only ones surpassing her were the jocks and they only had a few more points than her.

Of course, getting up was just the start. Sam still had to climb another twelve feet to reach the fruit taunting her from the air.

"Oh and one more thing!" Danny said, standing just below the branch Sam had climbed onto with his arms crossed over his chest. A reassuring smile was gracing his face as he blinked up at her. "Watch out for snakes. Some of them tend to look like vines and grabbing them is not a good idea. Nature Boy Danny Fenton has experience in that too."

That little point made Sam a little on edge as her head swiveled around the branches around her. She carefully scanned each leafy vine to make sure they were actually vines before she nodded back down to the teen boy under her. As she moved her feet under her and stood up, placing her hands on another branch to push herself up, Sam called down, "So how many times _have_ you fallen out of trees?"

Danny laughed a little down below her and replied, "Not as many as I make it sound like. I can promise it's been less than fifty, though it's probably more than twenty. I know that might sound like a lot but, for four years of doing this crap, I'd say that's a pretty good score but that's just me."

The raven-haired girl smiled and shook her head as she made her way up the tree. Sam was careful about where to place her feet and which branches of the tree to climb onto. At Danny's suggestion, she watched out for vines that slithered and hissed and, little-by-little, made her way to the top of the tree. However, as Sam got higher, the harder climbing became. The branches weren't as thick and they wobbled more than the ones closer to the ground. They were closer together too and Sam was continuously smacking branches out of her face to see where she was going.

From the ground, Danny watched Sam work her way up as he tilted his head to the side. He smiled at the way she effortlessly made it up, though navigating through the branches was a bit harder for her. She was catching on quickly though and the teen boy grinned at her progress. Danny wanted to say something encouraging but decided against it, not wanting to break Sam's concentration so abruptly.

Sam carefully shimmied her way onto a branch that she tested before putting all of her weight on it. The violet-eyed girl scooted as close to the end of the branch as she dared and then looked down. She could only see small flashes of Danny through the branches as she called down, "Alright, I'm up here. How many am I supposed to grab?"

"A lot." Danny answered without missing a beat. He moved closer to the trunk of the tree and looked up, allowing Sam to see him more fully and letting him see her as well. His obnoxious, beaming smile was still plastered on his face as he answered, "This is breakfast so grab as many as you think you'll eat and just grab three or four for me, I guess. After, we can grab some more for later."

"That's all you eat?" Sam asked, surprised to see that the teen below her didn't eat anymore than that. Most teen boys were like black holes that sucked everything edible in sight in within a few minutes and the one down below her only ate a few bananas to last him a few hours?

"Eh." Danny responded, shrugging off Sam's worried expression easily. "The taste can become nasty after a little while. I'll be fine. Just grab some that aren't infested with bugs and come back down. I'm not sure the branch you're on is all that strong. It'd suck if it suddenly snapped on you."

Realizing he was right, Sam suddenly snapped into action and began reaching for the hanging, half-yellow, half-green fruit and snapped them off the rest of the bunch. She did as Danny commented and searched them for any burrowing insects that could invade the peel and ruin the fruit inside. Sam managed to grab enough for her and a little extra for Danny before she shoved some of them in her waistband for transport and began her descent.

Danny helped her jump from the last branch as she held onto their breakfast, something Sam wouldn't have let anyone else do. The raven-haired girl grinned and handed one of the bananas to her companion, who took it from her grasp with a grateful 'thank you' as he seated himself on the dirt-covered ground. Sam shrugged and collapsed onto the ground beside him, taking the bananas from her shorts and dropping them onto the ground carefully.

"Alright, so that was lesson one of survival 101." Danny teasingly said as he snapped the top of the banana off, peeling it halfway before he took a bite out of it. After chewing and swallowing, Danny turned his gaze back towards Sam, who was eating her first bite, and continued, "You did pretty good; way better than me when I first tried."

"Was that the first time you feel out of a tree?" Sam asked playfully, shooting the boy a devious look before she bit down on her breakfast again. She smiled at the taste, noticing how it tasted a lot better than anything she had bought from a store, even when it wasn't fully ripe.

Danny laughed at Sam's prod and shook his head. With a reminiscing grin, the black-haired boy looked to the sky and contently said, "Nope. Believe it or not, the first time Skulker had me climb a tree was also the time the first and last time I accidently grabbed a snake. Never again have I grabbed onto anything without checking to make sure it wasn't an animal or had some kind of nasty bug on it."

"Aw, is Danny afraid of a little bug~?" Sam sang as she blinked her eyes innocently at the boy. The raven-haired boy rolled his eyes at her and took another bite of his banana. Sam bumped her shoulder against his and continued singing, "Come on, Danny~! It's just a little insect! They aren't gonna hurt you!"

"Woman, I don't know where you came from but here, the bugs aren't little!" Danny retorted, doing a sassy head swivel that made Sam snort in amusement. The boy continued, "You do not realize the amount of times I've woken up and there was a huge, hairy, nasty spider the size of my face crawling up my arm." Thinking about the event made Danny shudder and stretch his muscles to assure himself there wasn't another eight-legged creature crawling across his skin.

Sam laughed at Danny's display, not worried about any creepy-crawlies as she took another bite from the yellow fruit in her hand. The violet-eyed girl had a pet tarantula at home that had the tendency to creep everyone out. She could easily imagine Danny screeching like a banshee at the sight of it and hiding in a closet to protect himself, despite the fact the spider would be in its cage like it always was.

"So you can deal with enormous kaijus that could crush you into dust in an instant but you have problems with an arachnid that'll mostly just stay away from you if you stay away from it?" Sam asked, cackling under her breath as she watched Danny glare at her.

Shaking his head slowly and deliberately, Danny mumbled, "I hope you wake up one day and find yourself covered in creepy-ass spiders that have laid eggs in your ears and burrowed into your skin- and, oh shit, I'm creeping myself out."

The raven-haired girl laughed loudly as Danny shivered again and looked at his banana with a contemplating gaze. The boy carefully scanned the yellow fruit for any sign of the eight-legged creatures before taking another bite of it, choosing to ignore Sam's guffaw as he tried to eat his breakfast without puking in disgust at his thoughts. It took a few minutes for Sam to calm down, allowing Danny to finish one banana and move onto another one.

Staring amusedly at her new friend, Sam reached out and began brushing her fingertips against the other teen's bare back as if her hand were a spider. The girl fell into another merciless giggle fit when Danny shrieked and jumped, dropping his banana to claw at his back. It took a minute for the boy to realize there was nothing there and that his friend was laughing hysterically. Shooting a glare at the girl and scooting away from her, Danny yelled, "You're demented!"

Without a care, Sam only saluted back and took a bite from the fruit in her hand, cackling between bites.

For the remainder of their breakfast, Sam and Danny easily threw quips back and forth at each other for amusement. Despite being unabashedly rude and sarcastic, they both wore evil grins as they threw insults in each other's faces and tried to find where exactly it hurt in their egos. So far, they hadn't done a very good job because neither of them had a big ego, as it wasn't needed to survive Monster Island.

When they were done eating, Danny ran back to the cave briefly to grab a sack he'd made from a shirt a long time ago by tying the collar and sleeves closed with thin vines (it looked stupid as hell but it worked). He quickly raced back to where Sam was waiting patiently for him and, together, the two climbed up the tree again. The girl held the makeshift sack open while Danny worked quickly to snap some of the fruit from the bunch and drop it in for later. Once they had finished, the two climbed back down to the ground and landed easily on the dirt.

They doubled back to the cave one more time to drop their food off and hid the sack with another shirt that was a faded pink and had ruffles all over it. After that was done, the two were back in the wilderness again and Sam asked, "Alright, so lesson one of your stupid survival 101 is done. What's the next lesson, oh wise one?"

Laughing at her tease, Danny replied, "Lesson #2, my clumsy pupil-"

" _Excuse me?_ "

"-is the fine art of finding wood to burn so you never run out of heat!" Danny said, easily ignoring the way Sam indignantly cut him off. At his announcement, the teen stopped and stumbled back when the girl ran into him unexpectedly from his abrupt stop. Danny shook it off easily while Sam only glared at him in irritation.

Looking around the densely wooded area, Sam frowned at the scenery and commented, "Let me guess… Finding wood is not the problem but getting it is, am I right?"

"Uh-huh." Danny confirmed, nodding his head at the girl. Gesturing to the area around him, Danny said, "As you can see, we're surrounded by all sorts of plants that could be burned under the right conditions. However, we don't use this stuff. Do you know why?"

Sam rolled her eyes at the teen's enthusiastic teaching display and replied, "Well, for one, most of these plants are massive and can't be broken up easily and, two, fire has a harder time catching onto wood that's been taken from living trees."

Danny's strong stance once again wilted away as he smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck stupidly. "Oh wow, you already knew all that. You totally just smoked me. I didn't know crap until Skulker nearly smacked me for my stupidity. But yeah, pretty much. There are tons of fallen or dead trees lying around so it's not overly difficult to find dead wood."

"What's the catch?" Sam asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for Danny to tell her what she had to watch out for. The girl had a pretty good idea of where this conversation was going but she might as well let the raven-haired teen confirm her ideas. It was better than sounding stupid, after all.

"Just watch out for different insects, snakes, spiders, and rodents of all kinds. They have tendencies to hide out in dead trees, especially if they're hollowed out. I usually kick the wood around before bending down to touch it. Again, I learned the hard way with that one." Danny confessed, rolling his eyes at his past, younger-self. Sam snickered and the teen only said, "I learned a lot of things the hard way…"

"I noticed." Sam commented, patting the taller boy on the shoulder. Danny only rolled his eyes again and ducked farther into the jungle while the girl followed behind. Together, the two scavenged the area for wood and, as they found some, they poked and prodded it until they were sure that no creatures would jump-scare the crap out of them. Even then, it happened to each of them a few times, which caused them to break down into laughter at their terrified shrieks.

The two teens traveled back and forth from the cave, dropping off dry-rotted logs and crumbling pieces of bark. Again, they found themselves joking while they worked. Sweat rolled down their faces and collected on their skin as they hauled their loads back and forth through the rough terrain. They stopped briefly at one point to eat lunch (though their concept of time was very loose and they weren't sure of the passing time) and then continued on.

After collecting an overwhelming amount of wood to burn for the next few nights, the two teens stood triumphantly in the mouth of the cave as sweat trickled down their faces and dripped off their chins. Smiling brightly, Sam asked, "So Nature Boy, got any more survival lessons to teach me before we decide to chill out?"

Danny thought about it for a moment before shrugging his shoulders at the smaller girl. He seemed to contemplate something before answering, "Yeah, I guess I could show you where I have the traps set up. I can teach you to make them tomorrow or something but they're not overly hard to make. I just don't feel like making another one today."

"Traps?" Sam asked curiously, frowning and turning her head to the side.

The raven-haired boy nodded at the word and repeated, "Yeah, traps. You know, the thing that animals get caught in so we can kill and eat them? It's not an overly complicated term."

Sam rolled her eyes at Danny's small prod and replied, "Yeah, I get it. Calm yourself."

"Then what's the matter?" The raven-haired boy asked, blinking owlishly at the girl in confusion. She didn't answer and directed her gaze to the sky, a small blush rising to her cheeks. Danny stared at her curiously before something donned on him. "Are you one of those people that has a thing against eating meat?"

A small growl escaped Sam's throat as she admitted, "Maybe."

This earned a laugh from Danny and he shook his head in amusement. Grabbing the girl's hand, the black-haired boy began leading Sam towards the tree-line again. "Don't worry about it too much. In all seriousness, there's not a lot of game on the island and most it ends up being too small to bag anyway. Unless we're here for the rest of our lives, you probably won't have to toss your philosophy or whatever-it-is out the window."

Raising an eyebrow at the news of the amount of animals on the island, Sam curiously asked, "Why are there so little animals?"

"I don't know and Skulker never found out either. It's kind of weird because we haven't really come across any big-time predators either. Really, the only predators you'll find are the frikkin kaijus and they're usually on their parts of the island." Danny explained, shrugging as he did. Looking over his shoulder, the teen gave his friend a serious look. "But you do have to promise me one thing."

"Which is?" Sam asked, even though she had a pretty good idea of what the other was going to say. It made her frown but she just accepted her fate. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"If we do manage to catch something, you have to eat some of it. Meat is something you can't afford to pass up around here." Danny stated, still leading her by the hand. He had slowed for a moment, though, to show just how serious he was being.

Begrudgingly, Sam nodded her head without a fight. She wanted to but she also saw the point Danny was making. The girl also had a feeling she would lose the fight as well and didn't want to prolong her suffering by starting a battle she couldn't win. It just wasn't worth it when they had more important things to attend to.

Danny grinned at her compliance and said, "Great!"

The two trudged on and the raven-haired boy lightened the mood by telling a story of one of his massive failures. After Skulker taught him how to make one of the easiest traps known to man, Danny had gone on a spree and made a dozen. He set up one of them near the many trails they had stomped out over the years and Danny quickly forgot it. In the end, he managed to accidently capture Skulker, who had been absolutely furious. Danny had hidden from the man for a good half a day before being found in one of the 'Godzilla bunkers.'

As Sam laughed at the story Danny was telling, she began noticing the way the boy slowed his pace a little and looked at the scenery with a scrutinizing gaze before carefully leading her in one direction or another. She refrained from asking anything for a few minutes before her curiosity overcame her and she asked, "Is something the matter?"

Danny grinned over his shoulder and replied, "Nope. I just don't know this part of the forest as well as I do the area around our humble little home. I usually try to map it out in my head in my free time but it only goes ok sometimes. Other times, I get hopelessly lost until I manage to retrace my steps and figure out where I am."

Sam cackled a little at the other teen's hopelessness before Danny abruptly yelled 'a-ha!' and stopped her. Pointing to a spot on the ground, the boy grinned triumphantly while Sam followed his pointing to where she was supposed to be looking. It was hard to see but she could make out a cord (probably from being attached to a suitcase; she had one with a cord on the front) forming a loop being suspended above the ground by the shrubbery. One end of the cord formed another loop that allowed the end to slip through and be tied to a tree.

In simpler terms, Sam realized, it was pretty much a noose. She frowned but said nothing as she looked it over. Danny, grinning as always, shrugged his shoulders as he stared at it. "Like I said, it's pretty easy to make. I'll show you how to make one tomorrow but we probably won't use it. I've got a dozen around these parts and they never seem to catch anything."

The girl nodded and said nothing. Danny looked at her, as if waiting for her to say something, but frowned when Sam didn't utter a word. Awkwardly, he mumbled, "So…"

"What now?" Sam asked, looking up at him curiously.

"…" Danny looked to the sky in thought before he suddenly bolted in the direction of whence the two came. Sam shouted at him before rushing after him, dodging past obstacles and ducking under others. Danny laughed and shouted, "Race ya to the beach!"

"Get back here, bastard! I don't know where I'm going!"

"You're fine~!"

* * *

 **I can so see Danny being one of those people who are like "I saw a spider in the house so I grabbed a tissue and very, very carefully...burned the house down." and Sam being like, "This is my pet spider. His names Charles. Say hello Charles!"**

 **On another note, it'll probably be a week or two before I update again. My brother is coming down to visit and take a break college so I'm going to have a blast with him. Until then, do whatever and merry Christmas, Hanukah, or whatever the hell it is that you celebrate! Peace! *jams out to nightcore because I can***

 **Thanks to these people for favoriting/following:** ** _Azorawing, ZeroExia, perigoj14._**

 **Guest Reviews:**

 **Matt: Haha, nice guesses. The answer, however, isn't going to take place in this story but it's sequel because, right now, they're not too worried about where Danny's powers come from. They just want to continue the whole living thing. XD**


	5. Common Knowledge

Ch.4: Common Knowledge

When Danny woke up the next day, it was at his usual time and the sun was already above the horizon, blazing and spreading heat across the island. For a moment, the scene was so normal that he forgot all about the other occupant of the island. It was only after he opened his blue eyes and having them fall on the unoccupied spot next to him did he remember the events of the last few days. It all came back in a flood, startling him into full awareness.

Shooting up from his spot, Danny scanned the cave and saw the black-haired girl that had been resting beside him the night before was not in their shelter anymore. The boy knew he shouldn't have felt overly worried- the girl could handle herself quite well, after all –but it still gnawed on him that he didn't know where she was. Memories of Skulker's disappearance crept up from the back of his mind, clawing at his conscience stubbornly.

With a frown, Danny pushed himself up and onto his feet. Wandering towards the mouth of the cave, the teen looked around the clearing and saw it was barren of any other human beings. The blue-eyed boy's frown deepened further in worry for his new friend. Trying to shoo the slow-forming dread curling in his stomach, Danny called, "Sam! You there?"

"Yeah, right here." Sam replied back as the bushes and shrubs near the well-worn path shuddered and rustled against each other. The raven-haired girl stepped out from the tree-line a second later, holding the makeshift sack Danny had made a long time ago from a used shirt. From the looks of it, the bag was filled with their breakfast and the girl holding the bag was wearing a teasing smirk on her face as Danny grinned, approaching her slowly to hide his diminishing nervousness. Sam said, "I didn't know if you were ever going to wake up so I went out and got us something to eat."

Pulling up beside her, Danny took the load from Sam's hands in a silent thank-you as he chuckled and replied, "Thanks. How long have you been up? I literally just crawled out of the cave."

"The sun had just come up over the horizon." Sam replied, shrugging easily as she and the boy began meandering towards their small shelter. Danny held the bag over his shoulder as Sam continued, saying, "You were still clocked out when I finally got up so I soaked in the river for awhile while you dreamed of la-la world. Then I went and got breakfast."

Before the two entered, Danny looked towards the sky in an attempt to judge the amount of time that had passed. Sam said the sun had just come above the horizon and, from what he could see, the big ball of yellow light hung just a little bit over the line of trees covering the island. He assumed that was a lot of time but he wasn't sure. Danny gave up trying to judge how long Sam had been up and ducked inside the cave when she called abruptly for him to join her.

Grinning, Danny quickly ducked inside and collapsed back in the spot he had left just a few minutes prior. Setting the bag between them, Danny leaned back on his hands, crossed his legs, and said, "You get dibs first."

Sam seemed to rather like this deal as she pulled the bag closer and pulled the top open wide. She rummaged around with the contents inside for a little bit, cheekily grinning at an impatient Danny every once in awhile, before she finally pulled out a reddish-pink mango with hardly any green on it. Without a second thought, she quickly bit into the fruit, claiming it as hers before Danny could stop her as he shouted, "WAIT!"

Nearly choking at the bitter taste, Sam shook away her scattered thoughts, finished chewing at her small bite, and swallowed the fruit with a big gulp. Looking at the facepalming boy in front of her, Sam grinned further and asked, "What was that about?"

Being an evasive little monster, once again, Danny shook his head and asked, "Do you know if you're sensitive to plants like poison ivy and poison sumac and all those different forms of poisonous crap?"

Not overly worried, Sam looked at the ceiling as she thought back to one of the many times she had gotten poison ivy while visiting her wicked awesome aunts, uncles, and cousins at a lake house in Maine. Every time she got it, it was because she and her cousins always decided to be adventurers and disappear in the woods for a few hours. They were never careful when they ran barefoot through the forest, brushing past all sorts of plants they didn't know the names of.

Every time they did that, they were all itching and scratching horribly when the sun started setting. Sam had never been nearly as bad as her cousins, who were always awake throughout the night trying to scratch away the various itches across their feet, ankles and legs. If they were extremely unlucky, they got it along their arms and torso as well. It was why they always had anti-itching cream and Tecnu on hand in Apocalypse-size storages up at the house.

Luckily for Sam, she never got it bad, even though she had stepped in the same places as her cousins. It always stayed restricted to her feet and ankles, where the skin had brushed against the plants the most. Her cousins all envied her for her inability to contract the red, swelling lumps that always came when they decided they were going to brave the forest and claim it as theirs.

Besides, she'd eaten plenty of mangos before from the store and had eaten them whole, just like she was doing now. One more wasn't going to kill her by any means.

"No, not really. It irritates the rest of my cousins. I usually eat the skins anyways." Sam answered, smiling at the memories. It suddenly struck her that she was supposed to go visit her family again this coming summer but she didn't know if that was going to happen or not. Who knew if anyone was looking for them near the island she was currently trapped on?

To distract herself, Sam took another bite of the mango in her hand, looking back at Danny curiously as he seemed to relax at her words. "Why do you ask?"

With a reassuring smile back, Danny answered, "Eh, it was just something Skulker told me a long time ago. He said there was some chemical in a mango's skin that was found in poison ivy and the like. If someone's sensitive to it, eating the skin can cause some serious problems but if you don't have a problem with it, by all means, do as you please."

Sam raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked down at the fruit in her hands with new eyes. She hadn't ever known that but it'd probably explain why her mother had had such a terrible reaction to the mango Sam had given her one time to try. Her mother didn't venture into the woods much, like Sam and her cousins liked to do, but she'd heard stories from her aunts about how bad she got it when they were young and stupid.

The ebony-haired girl looked up again as Danny took the sack back from her, rummaging inside it while staring at the cloth of the sack absently. The corners of Sam's mouth began to twitch up when Danny suddenly looked up, opening his mouth to tell her something. However, something else caught his attention as he began pulling his hand from the bag again and he yelped, throwing the foreign object away from him as Sam suddenly laughed, dropping her food in her lap to hide her face in her hands.

The spider made out of twigs and vines bounced a little ways before stopping on its back, very still.

Danny's head whipped around and his eyes narrowed dangerously at the girl laughing just a few feet away. Sam peeked a glance between her fingers, saw her companion's irritated and pissed off expression, and began laughing harder. The raven-haired boy just watched as Sam doubled over. Her mirth was high-pitched and slightly obnoxious, in his oh-so-generous opinion, but that might be the righteous rage clouding his judgement.

"I fucking hate you." Danny stated as he reached over, grabbed the wooden spider, and chucked it into their smoldering fire-pit without a second thought. The spider bounced against the different pieces of wood before settling down between two burnt, ashy logs with four of its eight, thin legs sticking in the air. It's thorny body was lost between the cracks of the logs.

Between her amused cackles, Sam pounded her fists weakly on the dirt ground as she tried to suck air into her closed windpipe. After managing a breath, the girl replied amusedly, "I love you too~!"

The teen boy just stuck his tongue out at his female friend before roughly grabbing the sack again. Mumbling under his breath about prankster teenage girls, Danny prepared to rummage around again before he paused, looking between the bag and his companion suspiciously. Sam looked at him weirdly as she calmed the last of her hysterical giggles. Tilting her head at Danny, Sam asked, "Is everything ok over there, not-as-cool-Bear-Grylls?"

Opening his mouth, Danny prepared to say something slightly profound before his brain abruptly cancelled that message and instead made his mouth say, " _What'd you call me?_ "

Sam facepalmed and let herself fall onto her back, sighing at her friend's ignorance of the rest of the world. She knew it wasn't his fault, not in the very least, but it still had ways of shocking her sometimes when she gave references without even thinking about it. She ignored her mild twinge of disappointment while she shook her head at Danny, saying, "I'll explain it later. Just tell me what you were going to say originally."

Danny contemplated pursuing the subject further, wanting to know what she meant by the title he was oh-so-graciously given but decided against. Storing the question away for later, Danny went back to his original topic of discussion and pointed at the makeshift sack again. Raising an eyebrow at the girl, Danny asked, "Is it safe for me to put my hand back in there or am I going to find another wonderful surprise that I never wanted?"

Cackling at her friend's question, Sam sat back up and took the mango sitting on her legs up again, easily taking another bite without another thought. As her cackles died away, Sam hummed and shook her head at the boy a few feet away as she answered, "Nah. I've limited myself to giving you only one heart-attack a day. I decided that, since you saved my life, you deserved to have some time to let your heart rest from being assaulted."

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Danny tried to suppress the smile beginning to grow on his lips. To distract himself, once again, the raven-haired boy dug his hand into the sack of fruits and rolled them around, trying to find one he deemed good. After rummaging around for a little while, Danny dragged one of the mangos out and began picking off the skin with his fingernail. Sam watched him from her spot and tilted her head, swallowing a bite. She asked, "You don't eat the skin?"

With his grin back, Danny shook his head and continued picking off the mangos skin to the best of his abilities. It was hard though and slow-going. "No. On one of the first nights here, I was walking back to the beach and it was dark. I tripped and fell over something on the ground and landed right in a big patch of poison ivy. I broke out really bad and it was a miserable existence for the next few weeks. Skulker almost didn't let me eat any mangos at all at first before Kitty snuck me some, proving the fruit under the skin wouldn't affect me."

"Damn. That's harsh." Sam replied, shuddering at the thought of being absolutely covered in such a painful, itchy rash. Once again, she was thankful for her inability to get it too bad and watched as Danny nodded his head in agreement, shivering at the thought of going through it again. He'd been very careful about where he stepped and tripped after that incident, mostly steering clear of the dangerous plants with only a few minor cases after the initial, terrible first one.

The two continued on in a comfortable silence with Danny picking off the skin and Sam chomping away at her breakfast leisurely. The girl was almost finished with her first mango when Danny finally managed to scrape away enough skin to bite down on the outer layers of the mango and begin breaking away the rest of the outside covering easier than before. The boy ate the fruit with a smile aimed at the girl who had grabbed it while he had slept in and laid around uselessly. Sam smiled back like it was no big deal.

The two fell in and out of conversation, commenting about stupid things and saying a few lines to continue the observation before falling silent again. Neither of the teenagers minded the silence, finding it rather comfortable as they munched on their breakfast. The empty observations they made were for fun more than anything else and just gave them a reason to use their voices.

Sam finished eating before Danny did since she had no sensitivity to the chemicals all over the skin of their food. The teen boy took a bit of time more so he wouldn't have any health problems later and watched as Sam laid around, arms behind her head to cushion her skull against the ground. They were still quiet throughout that time as well, staring off into space absently or drifting into their thoughts, getting lost within them.

Even when Danny was finished with his food, he lay down in his spot beside Sam and the two continued to laze around. It wasn't like they had much to do that day. They'd taken care of all their wood needs the day before and Sam had pretty much brought them back a full day's worth of food, efficiently ensuring that they killed everything on their to-do list. Now there was nothing to do but kill time, which was a sad statement since the two lived on a kaiju infested island all by their lonesome selves.

Sam remembered when she and her friends (really, it was _friend_ ; Valerie, smart-ass, intimidating Valerie, was the only one in her entire school that she was compatible with, which wasn't too surprising when she thought about who it was she went to school with) would contemplate their actions if they ever somehow found themselves stuck all alone on an empty island in the middle of the ocean, despite the unlikely odds (except they weren't so unlikely _anymore_ ). Those conversations always started serious, with the two of them vigorously thinking of ways to survive, before the conversation took a sudden turn and they were both laughingly assuring themselves that they'd both call up their rich daddies to send a jet to pick them up. Afterwards, they'd go shopping in Paris or Milan.

When the conversation had still been serious, though, the two girls had always realized how hard surviving would be. They'd taken everything into account, even possible injuries the two of them might have, depending on how they ended up on the island in the first place. Neither of them dreamed that it'd be easy or that it would be a long-term affair.

Of course, it was always harder in the beginning. That's when you had to learn the general area of where you were, build or find a shelter, gather food, hunt down a drinkable source of water or find out a way to obtain some, and make sure you had ways of staying warm. However, once all of that was out of the way, suddenly you had nothing to do anymore. Everything was taken care of or it could be taken care of without too much of a problem and now all that needed to be done was making sure you just kept living.

Damn… Who knew trying to survive each day would be so boring?

The duo's inactivity and lazing around made them both sleepy, despite having woken up from a full night's rest not too long ago. Their eyelids drooped over their tired eyes as the dry heat surrounded them on all sides, adding to the perfect dozing air. Neither of the two seemed to notice the tiredness washing over them in waves until Sam, who had been drifting in her thoughts, suddenly snapped into full attention and pulled herself up. The girl shook her head before smacking Danny's arm.

"What~?" The boy whined, rolling away from Sam as he kept his eyes closed. "And is the violence really necessary? I'm right here. A simple 'hey Danny' would've been just as good as smacking me."

"Aw, don't be such a baby." Sam replied easily, reaching over to pat the boy's head condescendingly, which made the black-haired boy glare over his shoulder. Sam only grinned innocently before saying, "Come on. Get up. Let's go do something. I don't want to spend my entire day sleeping. There are so many things we could be doing right now! So let's do them!"

Danny hid his face behind one of his hands while he muttered, "Gosh, I can't believe you're being this cheery right now…" Shaking his head, Danny pushed himself and rubbed his face, trying to get the tired feeling off of him. When he was done, he got up just as Sam did and the two of them walked towards the mouth of the cave. Stretching, Danny asked, "Alright, so what do you want to do, Sammy-kins?"

"Don't call me that."

"I will call you whatever I damn well please after the things you've put me through."

Sam laughed at the boy's reply, noticing how he didn't miss a beat when retorting to her snappy comments. It only made her respect him more, which she didn't know was possible in any way. Danny had already gained so much of it from her with the way he handled his life while not becoming a complete drone bent only on keeping himself alive or a depressive maniac who hated his life for the way it had turned out.

Brushing away those thoughts, Sam looked up at her companion and grinned. Jerking her head in the direction of the place she had woken up, Sam suggested, "Let's go down to the beach again. We can swim or play in the sand, like we did yesterday after you let me get lost in the jungle for half an hour. I still don't appreciate that, by the way."

The comment made Danny grin at the girl, looking about as devious as Sam usually was when she was about to play a trick on the boy just to give him a jump-scare. The black-haired boy laughed a little and replied, "Yeah, sure, let's do that, including the part where you were lost. Only this time, I'll make sure that you stay lost so I don't have to deal with anymore spider jokes or your sweet, nagging voice!"

The girl couldn't help the bark of laughter that fell from her mouth. Danny laughed too and the two teenagers absently began walking towards the well-worn path that led to the beach. They continued nagging each other incessantly, passing back and forth quips and jeers that held no meaning or weight at all about their feelings for the other.

As they drew closer to the debris covered beach, the two quieted their teases and began contemplating what they wanted to do first when they finally reached the sandy stretch of land. The two finally made up their minds to make terrible sand-castles, as they had done the day before after they had swam in the ocean for a little bit.

When the two reached the beach, they weaved in and out of all the debris to find the spot they had used the day before that wasn't so infested with the broken remains of a luxurious yacht. The two approached the water's edge, where the sand was hard and moldable, and noticed that their sand castles from the day before stood in ruins. They were nothing than large lumps in the sand now and Danny had no qualms about running up to them and punter-kicking the large lumps into nonexistence.

Sam rolled her eyes at the showcase Danny had done and thought, ' _boys will be boys'_ as she joined his side on the beach. The girl smacked the boy upside the head before collapsing onto the wet sand, soaking her shins and knees. Danny yelped at the smack and questioned her on why she felt the intense need to do such a thing to him. Sam shrugged, replied that it must be a deep need of hers, and began forming another castle in the sand. Danny groaned at her reply before falling down a ways from his friend and making his own new kingdom with the brown-grey sand.

The waves from the ocean were a distance away from the two teens. The tide pulled them away from the shore before they suddenly came rushing back towards the shore, trying to reach for the distant land that it wanted to flood. However, the bubbly waters were pulled away from the shore again by the tide. The cycle of escape and capture continued again and again.

As Sam formed one tower of her castle clumsily, she looked towards Danny and saw him making an uneven wall that faced her tower. The girl thought back to that morning with her television reference and asked, "Hey Danny, how much do you remember about the mainland? I know you don't know much about your life or life in general but…"

Tilting his head up, Danny smiled reassuringly at Sam, noticing the small tinge of nervousness in her voice as she spoke. Still smoothing the sides of his walls while he looked at his friend, Danny replied, "Well, I remember small things. I know kids go to school to learn. I know adults have jobs. I remember a rhyme that tells me some guy named Columbus discovered America." The teen boy continued in this way, smiling down at the sand as he molded it into a long wall with the cylinder towers at the ends.

Sam listened patiently as he spoke, coming to the conclusion of how far his knowledge went. Everything he said was basic, common knowledge. Most people learned all of what he told her when they were young kids and the kids didn't even have a clear grasp of what they knew. In a way, his memory was like a small child's. He knew what he was talking about but only vaguely, no clear picture in his mind.

When Danny had finished speaking, he was also done with the majority of his walls. Sam was still smoothing out her lone tower, however, making it smaller and smaller with each stroke. She hadn't been paying attention to it at all as she listened to her friend talk and almost facepalmed at herself, gathering the lost sand to stick back onto her skinny tower.

As she did that, Danny curiously looked at her and asked, "What do you learn in school?"

The question gave Sam a great idea.

A big grin tugging at the corners of her lips, Sam got up from her spot and walked over to where Danny was kneeling in the sand. He looked up as she stopped in front of his wall and blinked curiously at her. Danny's hands paused over another one of his small towers and he drawled a long, " _Yes?_ "

"You wanna learn something new?" Sam asked, tilting her head at the kneeling boy. The boy's mouth started twitching upwards and he nodded his head, getting up and dusting his hands off easily. Together, the two teens walked a small ways from their castles-in-progress so they could come back to them later. They sat in the wet sand a little distance a ways and Sam asked, "Alright, so… I was thinking about starting with math since that's my best subject. Is there anything you can remember at all about math?"

Danny hummed, tilted his head, and looked at the girl beside him with a small grin. "I know there's something called addition and subtraction you have to do but I only have a vague of what I'm supposed to do to get any of the questions right. Mind explaining?"

The raven-haired girl only sighed in remembrance of the days when addition and subtraction were the hardest things to understand in the world. Now she had to divide x over y with another fraction that didn't have like terms of any kind and she had to always make sure none of them were negatives, otherwise she'd do the entire problem wrong, which was always miserable. While she was good at math, it didn't mean she liked it anymore than the other kids.

"Alright, so…" Sam muttered, drawing a small addition problem to begin with. Four plus three should be easy enough to start Danny off with. By the way he looked over her shoulder, Sam also knew he was interested, which would only help her since he wanted to understand. "…the basics of math are pretty simple. Addition is just combining two or more numbers together." Sam explained, going on to better explain what she meant. Danny listened attentively, catching onto what she meant easily. He even went as far as drawing a seven in the sand next to her problem messily, efficiently answering her problem while she continued talking.

After calling her friend a smart-ass, Sam gave him some more problems to work on. He did the small problems with relative ease, getting most of them right if Sam gave him a few minutes. Sam corrected him on the ones that were wrong, explaining to him why. Afterwards, he never made the mistake again, giving each problem special attention and taking his time to make sure he was getting everything right.

When single digit problems became too easy after awhile, Sam decided to move onto double digit questions. These required more patience and practice than the single digit and Danny frequently looked to her for help. The black-haired girl explained what was confusing, even showing Danny what to do by drawing out her explanations in the sand. The visuals helped the boy further and, after some more practice, Danny could get the problems right with a little bit of time.

The two teens continued the study session easily with Sam teaching Danny the basics of math, science (which he _loved_ learning about), and language arts. The black-haired girl probably would've tried to teach small bits of history as well but the two were startled out of their session when the ground thundered under them. The dry sand ahead of them began evening out and the ocean waves behind them sloshed violently.

Then the two teens were rushing for the same 'bunker' they'd used not two days ago when Sam first washed up on shore. Sam needed a little guidance to their hiding place, not remembering the trail there quite clearly, and Danny had no qualms in leading her.

The two hid in the small cavern as they did the first time, pressed up against each other while they lay on their bellies. The trembles caused more of the pebbles and dust to fall from the ceiling above them, coating their sand-covered bodies and greasy, damp hair. The ground vibrated under them, causing their skin to go numb. Danny watched for the kaiju, barely sticking his head out from the cave while they hid. Once again, he was free from fear but still felt the need to hide and Sam wondered why, not quite understanding the fragile, almost nonexistent relationship Danny had with the King of Monsters.

Even though Sam watched Godzilla's appendage cross her view, the kaiju didn't pause like he had done the first two times Sam had seen him. Danny never ducked back into the cave either, which was a small signal that Godzilla hadn't found them this time around or didn't bother to alert them that he knew where they were. Both of them knew- didn't assume, didn't guess, but _knew_ –that the large, monstrous creature had performed the latter of the two actions.

Godzilla disappeared into the waves much faster than the last time. Danny and Sam were out of the cave and walking back to the beach within a couple of minutes of feeling the earth-shattering footsteps coming their way. The two joked about finally outsmarting the King of Monsters, despite knowing that was not the case, and told themselves it only took four years for the event to finally happen so they'd better mark the date.

Of course, the two's fragile happiness was shattered when they stepped onto the sand again and froze at the sight in the distance.

Miles and miles away from the shoreline, Godzilla's spiky dorsal fins shot out of the ocean and reached to slice open the sky above them. They were drifting slowly through the water as the King of Monsters lazed about, contemplating. The kaiju drifted out in the open water for a few more minutes before he dove, disappearing under the waves and causing the ocean to tidal wave this way and that.

What the hell was going on?

* * *

 **Sam being a teacher is kind of adorable, especially since Danny's pretty much clueless. I dun know if that's just me or what. XD**

 **Alright, before anyone says anything about me being gone three weeks instead of the two I predicted, shut up! I wasn't completely inactive! It was just... None of it happened on this site. I started a FictionPress story called "Dream-Catchers and Nightmares" so if you wanna check it out, knock yourself out. I have the same name there as I do here. If you don't wanna read it... Well, what am I gonna do? It may not tickle your fancy anyways. Who cares? This is all for fun.**

 **Anyways, so, my writing for this story will be every other week because I _really_ want to continue "Dream-Catchers and Nightmares." So I'll see ya'll ****Wednesday and, if there's something any of you would like to see before I begin the action that leads to the end of this fic, please do tell. Otherwise, I'll just put a chapter of snippets that lead up to it.**

 **Thanks to these people for favoriting/following:** ** _Stevonnieandpercabeth, dracula-key, Skylock._**


	6. Routines and Fun Times

Ch.5: Routines and Fun Times

The first two days, both of the teenagers had gotten lucky. It was either one or the other that got up early while the other one slept in, allowing the conscious teen to soak in the river for a little while to wash off some of the grim coating their skin. While neither of the two completely stripped down during those first two days, both too paranoid to even think about doing it, it would still be embarrassing to be caught in the middle of such a private act. There was just something about it that, being in caught in any way, it would be humiliating.

So yes, the two teenagers had been _very_ lucky the first two days. However, this luck was bound to run out soon enough. There were only so many days the girl and the boy would wake up so far apart from each other before the two finally woke up only minutes from each other, ultimately sealing their humiliated fates. Of course, the two teens weren't even aware of their inevitable fate. Having been shielded in obliviousness thus far, the raven-haired minors were completely unaware of what was in store for their futures.

So the universe wasn't overly surprised when it finally happened four days after the black-haired girl washed up on Monster Island's shore.

The day had started out normal enough. The sun rose above the horizon, birds fluttered throughout the air and chirped songs, and the wind whistled as it swept through the trees. What few animals there were scampered about, missing every last damned trap Danny had set up only grandmother knew when. The kaijus all across the island did what they pleased, sticking to their territories to avoid getting in a fight for awhile. The air was warm, as always, and the waves from the ocean surrounding the island pulled in and out, knocking over what little remained of lost sand kingdoms and all sorts of math problems scribbled in the brown-grey sand.

The first to get up this morning was Danny. As he got up, the teen looked over at his dozing friend and smiled at her peaceful form. Ruffling his greasy hair up, the blue-eyed boy pushed himself up, quickly getting to his feet. Walking silently, Danny went to the mouth of the cave and looked out, turning his head in every direction to make sure there wasn't anything unusual in the clearing that was his and Sam's. When he saw nothing, he headed to the river to clean up as he usually did on most days. Before he got in, he contemplated stripping down and, as he turned a bright, cherry red at the thought of the girl in the cave, told himself he probably should do it this time around. While he did that, he prayed the nothing too humiliating would happen.

Besides, Sam and his sleeping schedule were so different from each others that it wasn't even funny. The chances of her waking up while he was scrubbing himself clean were pretty slim… Right? _Right?_

Of course, just as Danny fully submerged into the water, Sam decided to stir from her slumber. She opened her pretty purple eyes and groggily rubbed them clear of sleep, scraping the sticky sand from the corners of her eyes. Afterwards, she sat up and looked around, noticing that Danny was gone, just like the first day. She immediately assumed he was probably off somewhere, climbing a tree to grab some food or something. After all, if he was up before her, that meant he had been up for a _long time_. That's what the last few days proved, right?

 _Right?_

The universe, in its ever gentle opinion, decided Danny and Sam were the people who inspired the quote, "Assuming is making an ass out of you and me."

As Sam got up, she headed for the mouth of the cave, just as her friend had done only a few minutes prior. She didn't bother to look around though; that was more Danny's thing, she had decided. Instead, she just headed for the river only a small distance a ways to get a drink of fresh, clean water to help her wake up more. Afterwards, she'd worry about where Danny went off to and probably wait it out until he got back from his adventures, whatever the hell it was that he was doing.

However, Sam was shocked to find the black-haired boy floating in the water. Everything was submerged up to his mouth and his eyes were closed, his soaked hair clinging to his forehead as they reached to get in his eyes. Danny seemed to be deep in thought, not a care in the world as the water rippled around him quickly as the water rushed downstream. The teen's breathing was calm as he just enjoyed the feeling of the water rushing along his skin.

For a moment, Sam said and did nothing, just staring wide-eyed at the boy. Then she shook her head, shooing away her emotions. Even Danny needed to be quiet every once in awhile to hear his thoughts, she reasoned as she tilted her head. Casually, Sam said, "Oh, hey Danny."

The girl's voice startled the boy so badly he screamed and whipped around quickly, hands flying from the river to smack down on his mouth. Sam smirked at his startled response and watched as he looked back at her with wide, blue eyes. A small tinge of confusion curled inside her brain as a really bright, cherry spread across the entirety of the boy's face. His voice cracked as he squeaked a long, "Uh… Hi Sam."

Laughing a little at the boy, even though she was still very confused by his fearful and embarrassed actions, Sam kept her tilted as she asked, "What?"

"Nothing." Danny squeaked again, slowly sinking down to his chin again as he held his hands over his mouth stupidly. Sam noticed that, after the first initial moment of shock, he couldn't meet her eye anymore. His tomato-red face was practically radiating heat like the frikkin sun and the raven-haired girl couldn't tell if the boy was going to hyperventilate or not, though he seemed on the verge of doing so.

"O…k…" Sam muttered, her eyes drifting away from the boy floating in the river. Her purple orbs found the riverbank and she completely froze when she saw the teen boy's jeans folded neatly up on the edge of the riverbank. Her breath caught in her throat as well and was that her cool she heard breaking in the background? Because that's what it sounded like to her. It really sounded like every shred of calmness she had just shattered like a mirror against the ground.

Slapping her hands over her eyes and face, Sam screamed, " _Shit!_ " The girl turned on her heel and began stomping away, repeating 'shit' as she scurried away hurriedly. Her face was turning as red as Danny's with the same heat radiating from her face. Sam suddenly wanted to hyperventilate and now she understood why Danny was so freaked to have her near the river. She vowed that she would never, _ever_ leave the shelter again without knowing where Danny was first. Somehow, she knew Danny was promising the same thing.

Somewhere in its cosmic home, the universe laughed and laughed _and laughed…_

* * *

Brushing past all sorts of plants and ducking under some of the low-hanging ones he could avoid, Danny looked in every direction as he frowned worriedly. All he saw, though, was just a vast expanse of green, green, and more green occasionally dotted with one bright color or another of some kind. There were no signs of his female friend, who was out collecting some firewood. However, she hadn't made a pit-stop back at the shelter yet and he was starting to worry about what happened to her. Who knew what could happen to her out here in the jungle, where another had disappeared just as mysteriously as she had?

"Sam!" Danny called, once again looking in all directions for Sam. He frowned when she didn't answer and called her name again, carefully stepping over a hole in the ground that probably led to a snake's nest. He continued on through the woods, yelling for Sam and hoping she'd answer. However, the jungle was all but silent, the wind brushing past trees carefully. Frowning, Danny yelled again, "Sam!"

"Danny?"

The voice was faint and distant but Danny knew he had heard it. He yelled the girl's name again, listening for the general direction of where the raven-haired female was. Once he had received an answer, the boy took off in Sam's direction and, after traveling some distance to get to her, Danny found the girl stuck in a tree with her hair and shirt all tangled up in thorny, wooden vines that kept her in place unless she wanted to scratch her skin and pull her hair. Sam herself looked irritated more than anything else as casually clung to a branch, looking at the sky in boredom.

When Danny approached the base of the tree Sam was stuck in, the raven-haired girl dryly looked down at the boy with her annoyed violet eyes. With a curt wave, Sam said, "Sup."

Instead of flipping his lid or being even mildly worried for his female friend, Danny grinned amusedly and wickedly up at the girl. A very evil, witch-like cackle fell from his lips as he placed his hands loosely on his hips. Shaking his head to further convey his amusement for the situation, Danny muttered, "Oh, it's so refreshing to see you getting stuck in an embarrassing situation for once instead of me."

Sam gave a mock laugh at him, her lips twisting into a mean snarl that was supposed to be a smile. She leaned forward a little bit to rub it in, despite pulling on the thorny vines behind her. She moved back when they pulled too hard and said, "Just help me get out of this bush from hell already, you bastard. I've been up here for God knows how long already and I'm starting to cramp."

The teen boy cackled again evilly, batting his eyes innocently at Sam while he rocked on his heels and clasped his hands behind his back. He wore the nicest of grins but everything about his childlike appearance seemed devious because of the twisted amusement sparkling in the boy's eyes. "Oh, I dun know, Sammy-kins. You're so far up and I dun know if I can climb that high. You might have to wait until someone bigger comes."

Narrowing her eyes at the teen boy, Sam dangerously said, "Don't even play with me like that, boy."

"But that's kind of my job at this point." Danny responded, still grinning deviously at his stuck friend. His hands stayed firmly behind his back, still rocking slowly on his feet to appear innocent at all costs. His head tilted to the side ever-so-slightly and his bangs fell that way with him. They almost reached his eyebrows but his recent chopping job did not permit his hair to get that far.

The black-haired girl glared deeper, growling menacingly in her throat as she looked down at the boy. Danny was firm in his 'I'm-not-doing-anything-wrong' stance, laughing again under his breath as Sam pulled on the thorny bush to further display her stuck position. "Will you please help me out already, boy?! Seriously, I'm starting to hate this one particular tree and that's unusual for me! I love plants!"

"I'll get you down if you promise me you won't give me another heart attack again. I'm really starting to hate those and that's not so unusual for me. I hate pranks pulled on me in general." Danny responded, mocking the girl. Sam looked at him as if he'd given her an impossible task that couldn't even be done by the frikkin gods of Olympus. Danny, in his infuriating way, laughed again and said, "Oh come on, you can't even do _that_ for me?"

"Danny, you don't understand." Sam replied, shaking her head and trying to forget the terrible, horrible task she'd been asked to do as the price for her freedom from the equally as terrible tree-bush-thorn-thing she was trapped against. "I can't promise that. When I play tricks, it's not a conscious thing but a deep, primal need far and deep inside of me and I can't possibly hope to control that urge. Sorry but no. Ask something else."

The raven-haired boy only laughed again, turned on his heel, and began walking away, no interest in helping the girl who'd washed up on shore only a few days before. "Sorry Sam! No deal! Yell really loud when you decide to change your mind! But for now, buh-bye!"

Sam screeched after the boy as he slowly and deliberately began walking from the clearing. His steps were over-exaggerated and he sang obnoxiously to drown out the sounds of the raven-haired girl behind him, high up in a tree and screaming her head off. He only stopped when she said, "Alright, alright! You have a deal! Now get me down now, fucker!"

The new nickname made Danny bellow with laughter as he turned around. His mirth continued as he meandered over to the base of the tree again, hiding his face because he was sure he was going to cry if he laughed any harder. Sam rolled her eyes high above as she watched and waited for him to calm down so he could climb up without slipping and falling, potentially breaking a bone in the process. Then her promise would be all for nothing.

The blue-eyed boy calmed after a little while and easily jumped up, pulling himself onto the lowest branch without much of a problem. It was easy going from there, pulling himself up one branch at a time so he could reach his trapped companion. Danny made it up to her rather quickly and stood on the branch beside her, slowly untangling the thorns from the back of her shirt and pulling her hair gently out of it as well. Sam waited patiently and silently as the slightly taller boy helped her out.

"This would be so much easier if I had a knife." Danny commented, pinching one end of the thorny vine and plucking another part of Sam's shirt off of it. He moved onto the next one, not noticing the girl looking at him dryly.

"I'm surprised you don't have one. I can't count how many people I know take a knife with them everywhere, just in case. Traveling on a plane included." Sam stated, raising an eyebrow at the boy as she shifted her weight from her left foot to her right to try and ease some of the tension in her muscles. However, it only shifted the aching pain from one side to the other.

"Well, I did have a knife for the first few years but that disappeared when Skulker decided to never come back from his never-ending excursion through the jungle. I've got another back at the cave but it's so dull that _cutting my hair_ is a challenge." Danny stated, frowning as he carefully broke another part of the vine in two to free Sam further. "Damn. You're stuck really badly and you weren't even supposed to be up here. What were you thinking?"

Sam pointed up and Danny followed with his eyes. The boy saw some grapefruit hanging far above them, which would explain why the tree was so infested with thorns. The raven-haired girl said, "I thought I was hungry and I still am."

Danny laughed and promised, "I'll get you something when I finally get you out of here. I'm hungry too."

"Thanks." Sam stated, sighing as she looked back towards the sky. She couldn't see it very well with the canopy of trees covering most of it but there were small holes where she gazed upon the blue expanse. White, fluffy spots floated by now and then. As Sam watched the sky, seeing a few birds as she did, she asked, "You're never going to let me live this down, are you?"

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"

* * *

"This is so boring."

"SHHHHH- OW!"

The teen boy rubbed the back of his aching head while Sam glared at him as she sat beside him. The two teenagers were both squished inside a hollow tree that Sam was sure was going to collapse on top of them at any time now. Danny seemed sure that it wasn't going to do such a thing but, sometimes, the girl had problems believing him, especially when the 'strong, sturdy but dead tree' creaked every time the breeze so much as brushed against it. Not to mention the frikkin King of Monsters kept making the ground shake every time he placed his foot on the ground.

"What'd you do that for?" Danny asked indignantly, still rubbing the back of his aching head as he looked at her irritably. His knees were pressed up against his chest and were practically drilling into his chin, much like Sam was positioned uncomfortably beside him. The two had been sitting like that for a good, long while since Godzilla was still out of whack and had paused for some unexplainable reason a good distance away from their hiding spot.

Glancing just as irritably at her friend, Sam calmly whispered, "You make more noise than I do when you're telling me to shut up. It's only fair that I alert you to this problem in my own, personal way, _dimwit_."

The teen boy's face twisted further into irritation and he growled lowly at Sam but didn't object to her ways. The girl only stuck her tongue out at the boy beside her in retaliation before the two fell back into silence again. Danny rested the back of his head against the tree behind him while Sam rested her chin on her knee. The two impatiently waited for the King of Monsters to get a move on and leave already but the earth didn't tremble, signaling that the giant kaiju was still in the area, much to the two teen's chagrin. They both occasionally let out a sigh as they waited, twisting their heads this way and that, scanning and rescanning the dark inside of the hollow tree.

When she finally got so irritated with the silence, Sam finally snapped at the boy, "Is this the _only_ hiding spot you have in the area?"

"Unfortunately." Danny mumbled, not at all fazed by the girl and her snappish attitude. If he was being honest with himself, he was on the verge of being just as aggressive but had managed to suppress the irrational behavior for now. It wouldn't be good if both of them were ready to rip each other's heads off to ease some of their internal tension, even though breaking something did sound good at the moment. However, there was nothing to break but the tree and each other so that idea was thrown out the metaphorical window.

Sam huffed, planting her chin on her knee again and wrapping her arms around them as she bent forward. Danny stayed relaxed as he could get pressed up against the inside of the tree, eyes still wandering the farthest reaches of the space above him. There wasn't much to see since it was so dark. The only light came from the cracks throughout the tree's structure and the hole he and Sam had barely fit through (it'd been awhile since he last used it and he remembered a time he could slide in easily). However, the light was dwindling as the sun began setting, falling under the horizon as the earth turned slowly. No doubt the sky was turning an array of various warm colors that could make even the hardest of people soften at the sight.

While the moon's light was also bright during the night, the blue-white rays wouldn't make it to them in the tree. It'd barely make it through the enclosure of all the taller, bigger trees surrounding them and clinging together, creating a canopy of leaves far above them.

Of course, when Danny started thinking about it, if the sun was finally setting for the day, that meant he and Sam had been crammed together a lot longer than either of them had realized. That just brought on more worries about what was going on with the King of Monsters and, possibly, the rest of the world. While there was nothing he could do to help the situation, it didn't stop Danny from hoping that nothing too horrible was going on or was going to happen soon.

Beside him, Sam tried to shift but only managed to wiggle around in her current position. An irritated sigh fell from her mouth and, though Danny wasn't as annoyed as she was, he felt the same desire to get out of the hollowed tree and back to their shelter, which was a castle compared to their current hideaway.

Nudging her side, Danny got the girl's attention and whispered, "Peek out and see what the hell Godzilla's doing. I'm about to ditch this game altogether and just risk running all the way back to the shelter."

Though the girl didn't understand what Danny meant by 'game,' she nodded and started to move carefully with purpose. The teen boy tried to make as much room for her to move but there was only so much he could shift around before he was completely pressed up against the inside of the tree. However, the small space he gave Sam was enough for her to wiggle around and manage to stick her head out the small hole they had entered. She looked around for a minute or two before mumbling, "No way…"

"What?" Danny asked, poking her back to remind her that he was still there.

Sam swatted his prodding finger away before she pulled herself out of the hole completely, landing roughly on the ground outside. Danny raised an eyebrow but the girl looked back in and gestured for him to follow her. The teen boy rolled his stiff shoulders nervously before following the girl, pulling himself out of the tree easily and landing roughly on the ground, just as Sam had. Danny pushed himself to his feet easily and looked around for the towering figure that was known as the King of Monsters but instead found that the kaiju was lying on the ground far off in the distance, his dorsal fins once again trying to slice the brightly colored sky open.

"Is… Is he sleeping?" Danny whispered incredulously. In the back of his mind, part of him had a feeling he could use his normal voice and it wouldn't matter. However, another part of him felt like making noise would be disrespectful, like talking loudly in one room while another person tried to rest in the one next door. It was an irrational feeling but he couldn't make it go away.

The teen's friend shrugged her shoulders, looking uneasy as they watched the perfectly still form in the distance. It was weird seeing Godzilla lying so stilly and potentially leaving himself susceptible to being attacked in the process. Even though it was highly unlikely any of the other kaijus on the island were stupid enough to rouse a sleeping 'king,' it was still very unlike Godzilla to be relaxing, if that's what he was doing.

In all seriousness, Danny thought the King of Monsters sleeping in general was strange. He'd lived on the island for four years and never had he seen Godzilla sleep, much less lie down at all. Did the kaiju just do it on another part of the island or in the ocean or… What?

"Come on." Sam whispered to him, putting her hand on her friend's shoulder. She jerked her head in the direction of the cave. "Let's get out of here. Who knows how long he'll stay like that?"

Danny nodded. He and his friend took off, rushing through the trees and past all the shrubbery. They paid little attention to where they stepped or what was around them, fully focused on their mission of getting back home. It was a strange sense of urgency the two felt. Even though the two knew that Godzilla wasn't hostile towards them, they still felt a deep need to stay hidden from him. Why? They didn't know but only fools disregarded their instincts.

* * *

Danny watched as Sam drew a large circle in the wet sand. He raised an eyebrow as she drew more circles inside the first, all of them varying drastically in size. He didn't know what the hell Sam was going to teach him this time around in science but it was bound to be interesting with the precision the girl was putting into making the diagram for him.

"What's this supposed to be?" Danny asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked the drawing up and down. Nothing had been labeled as of yet but he felt the girl was probably going to do that as she went along with the lesson. Sam did that a lot and Danny had yet to figure out why. Maybe it was so he couldn't guess what they were going to be learning, even though he literally had no clue what he was looking at without the help of Sam, but he wasn't going to question it either. The teen boy always understood it in the end.

"This," Sam started, pointing the long stick in her hand at the many circles drawn in the sand. "is the Earth."

The teen boy looked between the crude drawing of what was supposed to be the 'Earth' and the girl with the skinny stick. After, he looked around at the landscape around him, trying to find even a small resemblance between the circles and the planet he lived on. When nothing clicked in his brain, Danny looked back at the girl and said, "Yeah, you lost me already. You're going to need explain further, Senpai."

Sam face-palmed at the teasing nickname and muttered, "I shouldn't have taught him that…" Shaking away her annoyed thoughts, Sam gestured to the picture again and explained, "This is a diagram of the Earth and what it's like inside of the Earth or, in our case, what's under our feet at all times. We call this the crust." Sam pointed to the first circle that she drew, which was also the largest of the drawings.

The teenager that was currently being taught something tilted his head to the side and hummed a little, quietly sorting the new information in his head. Just to be smart with Sam, Danny looked up at her with a beaming smile and said, "Crust as in bread?"

Narrowing her eyes at the boy, Sam pointed her stick at Danny menacingly and bobbed it a little as she suspended it in the air. "Do not get smart with me or thou shall be smacked with thy stick, you understand me, boy?"

Danny pouted at the girl and tilted his head to the side again, making his blue eyes big and watery. With a small sniff, Danny said in the smallest, most innocent voice he could muster, "You wouldn't really hit me, would you, Sam? You're too nice to actually-"

 _SMACK_.

"OW!"

"On the contrary, dear boy." Sam stated as she marched along the outer edges of her poorly drawn circles, her stick resting against her shoulder. Danny watched her in bewilderment as he rubbed the stinging pain on his temple. The girl ignored it as she continued, "The teacher will gladly smack you because Teacher does not deal with _bullshit_."

With a twitching eye, Danny watched the girl come to a stop in her original place and stand with the stiff posture of a drill sergeant. Her stick whipped to the ground and pointed at the largest circle again. With an expectant look, the fiery girl questioned, "Now, what is this again, dear student of mine?"

Dryly, the boy answered, "Not the crust on bread."

"Exactly!" Sam shouted, throwing her arms and the stick in the air. Then she gestured to the area around her and continued, "The crust is basically what we're standing on. It's the first layer of the Earth. It continues down for a number of miles I can't remember until we reach the next layer of the earth, which none of our drills on Earth have penetrated yet. Do you want to take a guess at what's it called?"

The raven-haired boy, still a little ticked at being smacked upside the head with a stick, rolled his eyes at Sam's enthusiasm and replied, "Does it have anything to do with bread?"

"Say one more thing about bread and I'll let the bullshit stick loose on your face."

Not so surprisingly, Danny rolled his eyes at that too, even though he knew Sam was fully capable of whacking him again without any remorse. While it was tempting to continue pestering the girl because he did have fast healing abilities, he didn't feel like dealing with a concussion of any size that he would surely have by the end of the day. So instead, he stayed quiet while Sam pointed to the next circle down and explained, "The second layer of the Earth is the mantle. It's made up of some solid rock, plastic rock, and, I think, magma, if I remember my science book correctly."

"I'm learning things you're not completely sure about?"

" _Shut up, Danny._ Anyways, the layer after the mantle is the core and the core of the Earth is split into two parts: the inner core and the outer core. Now, the outer core is right under the mantle and is composed of very hot magma that would burn you to cinders within a few seconds. After the outer core, you have the inner core, which is completely solid in the center of the earth." Sam explained, pointing to each section as she gave quick explanations on each. Once she was done, she asked, "Do you have any questions?"

"Um, yeah…" Danny said, looking mildly confused as he looked over the many sections of the Earth. "If we haven't even managed to penetrate the mantle yet and the outer core would burn us to bits within seconds, how do people know what's in the middle of the Earth to begin with? It doesn't make a lot of sense."

Sam smiled at the question and replied, "Oh, we know all this by indirect observation. The simple way to explain this is that scientists create vibrations to travel through the different layers of the earth and the vibrations travel differently through different materials so, by observing the way the waves travel, the scientists can determine what the Earth's center is like."

Danny blinked at the girl from his spot on the ground, thinking about her quick explanation. For a moment, he did nothing. Then… He laughed. And laughed. And laughed some more, ignoring the way Sam's eye twitched at his laughter. As he continued to ignore her irritated gestures, Danny said, "I think you need to slap yourself with the bullshit stick."

As her eye twitched again, Sam said, "You don't believe me?"

The boy laughed again while he shook his head. Grinning like a maniac, he said, "Not a chance. You sound absolutely ridiculous when you try to explain nonsense like that."

Fifteen minutes later, Danny finally escaped the wrestling match he and Sam had gotten into shortly after his statement and the boy took off into the woods while laughing, ignoring Sam's roar of fury quickly following him.

* * *

 **These snippets span around two weeks. There's not many because I didn't want a 19000 long chapter, which is something I could easily do if I felt the extreme urge to. (I dun wanna go through that again though, oh my gosh. T.T) The reason I'm skipping over days is because the two weeks would become very boring very quickly and even I wouldn't want to read their routine again and again... So we're skipping to the action and quickly wrapping this up! I never said it was gonna be a long story.**

 **Thanks to these people for favoriting/following: _DEMONKING41._**


	7. Territory

Ch.6: Territory

The day started out normal enough for the two teens. The two of them woke up roughly around the same time and, after checking supplies, the two quickly rushed off into the jungle to finish their tiny to-do list. Danny was, for today, in charge of getting their meals for the day and Sam ran off to restock their wood pile, even though it was still huge and there was only the tiniest of dents in it. However, Danny insisted on always keeping their stock on firewood high in case something happened. It was a paranoid habit Sam figured he probably picked up from his oh-so-wonderful mentor, Skulker.

So, as usual, the two quickly got their firewood back up to its usual stock and Danny grabbed enough fruit for them to last the day. They ate some of it sitting in the cave, playing around with each other as they did. It was only another habit they'd developed over the growing number of days they'd been together: joking constantly when they did everything, if they didn't decide to take a rest and sit in compatible silence.

As of the moment, the two were sitting next to each other while pressing their backs up against the wall behind them. The two were both currently laughing as they tried to bite down on their food or swallow. They were giggling so hard though that they couldn't get their bodies to respond properly, making Danny cover his mouth so he wouldn't spit the fruit from his mouth and Sam chomp her teeth unevenly along the same section of fruit that she'd been trying to bite down on for the last half hour.

Barely managing to calm himself down, Danny wiped the tears from his eyes and off his face, swallowed his bite painfully, and looked back towards his friend. "Ok, ok, ok… So tell me what happened again? I couldn't hear anything after the first part because I was trying not to choke myself. The first part cracked me up."

"I noticed." Sam stated, rolling her watery eyes at her friend as she wiped them stubbornly, sniffling a little as she did. The girl gave Danny a 'one minute' gesture before she finally took a big bite from her breakfast, quickly chewing it up with the minimum amount of bites suggested, and turned her head back towards Danny with an easy grin as she swallowed. "Ok, so what happened… My friend, Valerie, and I were goofing off at my house. We had a table pulled up to the futon and Valerie, being the idiot she is, decided to grab my foot and start twisting it around. Not only is she doing that but also blocking me from watching my show so I kick her but she still has a hold on my foot. Too bad for her, I was wearing a sock and, as she's falling from the table, she doesn't realize holding my foot isn't going to stop her and she goes flying off the table, my sock flying off my foot as she did!"

Danny, not so surprisingly, started falling into another giggle fit at the mental image of a girl flying off a table with the most hilarious expression he could make. Beside him, Sam was laughing a little bit too at the memory; whether because it was hilarious at the time or the vivid pictures of Valerie's stunned face as she flew back came to mind, Sam didn't know. All she knew was that her stomach fluttered warmly at the memory and the laughter that rang in her ears from the experience made her heart soar, though she'd never admit it.

"I laughed. After screaming at the unfairness of me wearing slippery footwear, Valerie laughed too and she was laughing so hard that she was crying and there was snot going everywhere…" Sam continued through her cackling mirth, gesturing all over her face at the mess that had been Valerie. Danny's laughter was dying down but that was only because he was turning blue, no air getting to his lungs. Sam grinned at him and thought her story wasn't nearly as funny as he thought it was. However, she didn't say anything and just smiled as she watched him, wondering when the last time he laughed so hard he could puke was. It'd probably been a long time.

Not showing any remorse, Sam looked at the ceiling and continued her story. "After she finally composed herself, we went through a box of tissues trying to get all the nasty snot off her face and it didn't help because every time we looked at each other, we'd laugh again and that just made it a hell of a lot worse and, eventually, I just held her down while stuffing a rag in her face. Valerie couldn't get me off because she still hadn't caught her breath and I was suffocating her by pressing the rag over her nose. It was really hilarious because my parents' maid, Mrs. Angelina, just happened to walk in on us at that time and _screamed her head off_."

The teen boy, who hadn't made a sound in a few minutes, finally got his windpipe to open and sucked in a deep breath of air before falling victim to another giggle fit. There were more tears on his face and, once again, he scrubbed them from his skin again. Looking at his friend curiously, Danny asked, "Why'd she scream?"

Sam grinned deviously at the question, looking thoroughly happy with whatever she had done to make her maid shriek like a banshee. With a content sigh at the memory, The violet-eyed girl replied, "Well, you see, Danny, Mrs. Angelina and I did not see eye to eye all that often. She was raised very traditionally and I am the kind of person to rebel to most traditions, depending on what they are and what they signify. Because of my wonderful taste, Mrs. Angelina thought that I must be possessed by a demon or had some mental problem that needed to be checked out. Unfortunately for me, when she walked in on me holding a rag to my friend's face, she immediately assumed that I was attempting to murder my friend and my sanity had finally snapped in two."

Danny's giggle fit calmed while he listened to his female friend speak, grinning at her explanation of what was up with the maid. He shook his head, imagining his friend dealing with all her problems in her own special way. It was probably very different from what the rest of the world did and it only amused him, not worrying about Sam coming across a problem she couldn't face.

"You know, your friend Valerie sounds really cool." Danny said, smiling at the ceiling with the most longing look Sam had ever seen on a person. She knew he ached to have other friends and get back to society, even if he wasn't consciously aware of it. Sam listened as Danny said, "I wish I could meet her. I think we'd be good friends if I can get along with you."

The raven-haired girl grinned at the thought of headstrong Valerie meeting obnoxiously nice but sarcastic Danny. Oh, for sure the two would have a few problems at first with Valerie sizing the boy up while Danny fought to not be intimidated by the girl. However, Sam could see them being good friends after giving them a little bit of time, which would give them a chance to figure out each other's true personalities and measuring their worth.

Sam reached out, grabbed Danny's hands, and pulled him up into a sitting position in front of her. The teen boy didn't object but he did seem curious as to why she had done what she'd did. With a determined smile, Sam said, "When we get off this island-"

"Don't you mean 'if?'" Danny cut off, raising an eyebrow at the girl expectantly. He didn't believe they'd ever get off; why should he? Danny had been stuck there for over four years. He'd probably stopped hoping for someone to come rescue him a long time ago and had accepted that he'd probably end up dying on the island with no one to know. However, Sam had only been there for maybe two weeks- she wasn't sure though; her concept of time was almost nonexistent –which gave her ample opportunity to hope for escape.

"No." Sam answered her friend, her determination solidifying inside her mind. She held her friend's hands tighter in her grip, startling him a little bit by her gesture. "I mean 'when.' You and me are gonna get off this island one way or another. I dun care if we have to make a raft and set sail off to sea with nothing more than a shit load of coconuts. And when we do finally leave, one of the things I will make sure you get to do first is meet my wonderful, slightly violent friend. You got that, boy?"

Danny didn't look like he fully believed her and Sam figured that was justified, no matter how much she didn't like that he didn't completely trust her words. However, he did nod at her (Sam ignored how he seemed to be humoring her; it'd just make her want to smack him and now wasn't the time) and replied, "Ok, Sam. Whatever you say. As long as we also get some ice-cream while we're at it."

The girl was a little surprised. She hadn't said a thing about the delicious treat since washing up on the shore. Danny had thought of it all by himself but, then again, the reveal of information didn't mean much. Ice-cream could fall under common knowledge or Danny could've heard about it from one of his past companions. Still, Sam hoped it meant something good for his memory, though it seemed highly unlikely.

Nodding her head at her friend, Sam replied, "Yeah. Sure, Danny. We'll do that too."

The teen boy smiled and this time it seemed genuine. Danny didn't say anything though and just took a bite from his food, falling into an easy silence with their girl. Sam smiled as well, despite the hysterical conversation dying off, and also continued eating quietly. Danny fell into thought about what his female companion had said, wondering if it might be possible, while Sam just daydreamed about finally going home and taking Danny with her, imagining his many reactions to the rest of the world.

When they finished, Danny wordlessly slid the sack of fruit to the back of the cave and hid it before the two got off the ground, heading for the entrance of the cave. As they began exiting, Danny asked, "Alright teacher-of-mine, what are you teaching me today?"

That was another routine they'd quickly created out of boredom. Practically every day, they were hanging out at the beach and Sam was always teaching Danny something new. He'd quickly taken to all the science lessons (though sometimes he swore she was telling him ludicrousness) and, so far, he'd quickly caught on to most of his math lessons without too much trouble. He was still in the beginning stages for each subject though and Sam was undoubtedly skipping lessons she herself had forgotten. However, the two would worry about that later.

History and language arts were harder to teach the boy, which meant they hadn't gotten far in either subject. Sam wasn't much of a history buff and could never remember exact dates and she'd always had a boat-load of visuals for sentence structure and the like. There wasn't much she could teach about the two that wouldn't be potentially shrouded in false information or made sense to Danny, who was still relatively new at the whole concept of speaking in a correct manner. ("If I get my point across, why does it matter how I speak?" – "Don't you wanna sound smart?" – "Sure but _does it matter?_ ")

They didn't do much with reading comprehension either, though that was easier to teach than history and English. While they had no written material, that didn't mean Sam couldn't tell Danny a story orally and ask him questions about the story afterwards. He was usually pretty good doing that too, though asking him to pick up small details that were implied but not explicitly voiced always managed to throw him through a loop. They were still working on that.

Handwriting was interesting as well. Sam usually didn't stick to that for long. Writing with a stick differed greatly from that of writing with a pen or pencil. However, Danny's cursive was getting better! Sort of… Handwriting was the subject the teen boy the least seriously and they usually ended up smacking each other around when Sam attempted to have him concentrate on his work. It never worked.

After Danny asked her a couple of questions pertaining to the subject, the raven-haired girl had also attempted to teach the boy a little bit about health and how the body worked. They tried that lesson one time and it only lasted a few minutes before everything crashed and burned. Danny only heard a little before getting too grossed out and awkward that he vowed to ask no more questions on the subject _ever again_.

Teaching spelling and vocabulary was always interesting. Danny literally didn't know how to spell one word when they began and he hadn't known a lot of the words Sam taught him in vocabulary existed. Those lessons were always the most fascinating.

As she thought over which subject she wanted to do, there was a rumbling across the ground. Sam paused in surprise and Danny did the same as well, looking around wildly. They looked at each other, vividly remembering that Godzilla had wandered off towards the ocean just last night, waking them both up from their peaceful slumber. Once again, Godzilla had ignored them completely and had been walking much faster than either of the teens had thought capable for a creature his size. His departure had been swift and the two teens, despite it being the dead of night, had contemplated it for a long time before falling asleep again.

So, therefore, the rumbling in the ground couldn't be the King of Monsters. Danny could tell that it definitely wasn't the massive kaiju because Godzilla's form wasn't rising out of the ocean and towering over all of the trees. Godzilla was just that visible and no one could see him. Also, the tremors in the ground were different: not as long and much more spastic compared to the rhythmic steps the King of Monsters took. They were also coming in another direction, although Danny knew that was more of a gut feeling than actually knowing the originating point of the mini-earthquakes.

"Danny…" Sam muttered as the two of them looked around, the ground under their feet calming down. It didn't last long because another earth-shattering rumble flowed through the ground again, shaking any loose form and nearly knocking the two of them over. However, it eased out quickly but there was another tremble seconds later. The cycle repeated again and again.

Though Danny knew the only reason Sam said his name was for comfort, he muttered her name back anyways. The two of them stepped closer together, trying to balance themselves against the shaking ground as they scanned the sky for a gigantic figure. However, there was nothing that they could see but, from the spastic earthquakes trying to knock everything and everyone over, they all knew it simply wasn't a problem with a nearby fault line.

Deciding to have a higher look, Danny stumbled over to one of the nearby trees and grabbed one of its lower branches, pulling himself up quickly while the ground rumbled under him again. Sam followed after him but stayed on the ground, holding the lowest branch she could reach to steady herself while she watched Danny struggle to find sturdy branches to crawl onto when the ground wouldn't stop throwing the tree around. It didn't help the constant on and off of the vibrations was giving the boy a headache and making him dizzy. While the ground was bad enough, being up in the air seemed to make it worse.

It took much longer than it normally took to reach the top of the tree and, at one point, Danny almost completely fell out because he misjudged how strong a branch was and it snapped as soon as he got on it. Sam had yelled down below but the teen boy caught himself on a different, bigger branch and had to take a moment to catch his breath. The fall had not only scared the shit out of him but had also landed on his torso, which was a rather painful way of giving himself bruises. The vibrations rubbing it in weren't much of a help either.

After climbing, falling, and regaining the ground he had lost, Danny finally made it to the top of the tree. As he clung tightly to the branches around him, silently praying that the branch wouldn't snap under his weight or that he'd slip and fall again, the teen carefully pulled the leafy branches away and created a large hole for him to see through. Danny scanned the horizon, quickly catching sight of the thing that had evaded his sight from the ground.

It was definitely another kaiju. This one varied very differently from Godzilla, walking on all four legs, though his hind legs were longer than his front. The kaiju had a long muzzle and a large horn sat on its nose. There were large, serrated teeth protruding from the monster's mouth and a row of long horns sat on the top of the kaiju's head. The large creature had a large shell and more sharp spikes sat on top of the carapace. The part that amazed Danny the most was the kaiju's tail, which was more than half the creature's body length and also covered in spikes.

The kaiju was doing nothing more than meandering around the area and creating mini-earthquakes with every step. It looked like it was just investigating the land, not too much on its mind as it searched for something. The monster didn't make a sound as it crushed trees with its feet and changed the landscape differently. It didn't seem overly worried about the original kaiju that lived on this part of the island but, then again, Danny didn't know much about how a force of nature's mind worked.

It took a minute for Danny to snap back to attention and it wasn't his own brain telling him that he had to leave to get him moving. No, his hands had loosened around the branches he had been holding and another tremble racking the ground had caused him to nearly fall again. His attention came back rather quickly after that and, after regaining his balance but giving no time for his heart to take a rest after the initial scare, began climbing down the tree again. His feet were much more unsteady as he started downwards, slipping this way and that, but his firm hold on the branches kept him from falling down again.

As he landed on the ground beside Sam, Danny stumbled and nearly fell over as the still ground convulsed under his feet again. When the tremors ceased a few seconds later, the teen boy grabbed Sam's arm and began pulling her towards their shelter, lowly saying, "Shit, shit, shit, let's go! Come on! We need to hide!"

Sam yelped as she was pulled and the rumbling that started up as they ran didn't help any. However, Danny was determined and, even though the shaking of the ground was significantly different from the way Godzilla made the ground shake, he knew how to plant his feet just the right way to stay upright. The teen girl still hadn't mastered the skill and needed Danny to keep her upright, much like the day she first woke up on Monster Island and the King of Monsters had decided to take a swim.

The two practically fell into their shelter but, by now, it was ok. They were in a "safe-zone" and Danny planned on staying put until the danger passed (though, silently, he wondered _if_ it would pass).

The teenagers found spots to hide out, sitting against the walls and across from the fire-pit. They huddled against each other and intertwined their hands, watching the entrance of the cave nervously and trying to ignore the grit, grime, and bits of rock that fell from the ceiling and showered them. They still couldn't see the large kaiju from their distance, mostly because the monster was significantly shorter than most of the monsters on the island and placed throughout the world, but the two were waiting for it to travel closer.

The teen girl pulled a little bit on her friend's hand to get his attention and, once she finally received it, Sam gave Danny one of her curious expressions tinged with worry. "What's going on, Danny? What'd you see?"

Danny didn't know how to put what he saw into words. Through his hazy and shocked mind, he tried to think back to a time where everyone in the crash had survived. Even Desiree and Elliot had been alive at the time of the conversation, though the beginning of a fever brought on by their infections were starting to form under the surface. The two had felt warmer than the rest of the group, sweating a little bit. Everyone had been peacefully gathered around a fire, a civil conversation being held.

The teen's memory was hazy of what was being said. He had been tired and sleepy at the time, lying gently against Kitty with Skulker sitting stiffly on his other side. As his younger self had started drifting asleep, Danny remembered bits and pieces of what the adults talked about. Though they spanned all sorts of subjects, one of the first had been on what other kaijus were lurking around the island.

Elliot, who had been one of those kaiju know-it-alls, had gone on a long explanation, stating which monsters were likely to be roaming around somewhere on the island. Elliot had given names, abilities, even appearances. He was a complete nut but, at the time, he believed he still had a chance of surviving and was experiencing anxiety over the thought of seeing, possibly running, from all of different kaijus and was spreading that fear to everyone in the group.

Well… Everyone except Skulker. He had laughed at the idea of seeing the other kaijus. Elliot had yelled that they were talking about something serious but, of course, Skulker had explained that kaijus were basically just bigger, more powerful animals than people were used to and that kaijus were territorial creatures, which explained their many fights on the mainland (none of which Danny remembered ever hearing about). Skulker assured that the only monster they would be dealing with would most likely end up being Godzilla, seeing as he won the fight with the winged kaiju as they floated in the middle of the sea.

Danny had always kept that information close to him since he had heard it. After seeing that Godzilla tolerated the boy and his group, Danny had kept the idea that he wouldn't have to deal with any of the other kaijus even closer. His anxiety-reliever was the reason he hadn't made much of an effort to clearly remember what Elliot had said about the other monsters roaming the island. If Godzilla was alive and kicking, none of the other kaijus would try to come to his part of the island unless they wanted their asses handed to them.

So far, this belief hadn't failed him. None of the other monsters had ever appeared. Well, until now.

Of course, now Danny needed the knowledge Elliot had and he scrambled to pick up the pieces he vaguely remembered. He could recall the pterodactyl-like kaiju being called Rodan, another one Elliot called "Ghidorah the Three-Head Monster," another that was named similar to Ghidorah but was more commonly known as Smog Monster, but what was the name of the one covered in spikes?

It took a bit more scrambling before Danny finally remembered and yelled victoriously, "Anguirus!" Then he slapped a hand over his mouth to shut himself up as another tremble rocked the ground under. Some of the falling dust got in his eye and he reached up to rub it out, not liking the burning sensation he was receiving.

Sam, who hadn't understood what Danny said, looked at him in confusion and asked, "What?"

"Anguirus." Danny replied hastily, looking back and forth between Sam and the cave entrance. The spike-covered monster hadn't made it close enough to see yet but the trembles were increasing in size, making him dizzier than he already was. "It's another kaiju. He-she-it lives on another part of the island. Like I said before, they've never come over to this side of the island since I've been here. Kaijus are territorial creatures and we're in fucking Godzilla's territory."

"Then why's what's-its-face over here now?" Sam whispered, flinching when a small rock that had once been part of the roof landed on her head. She rubbed her stinging skin and glared at the ceiling before turning her attention back towards Danny.

"I dun know." Danny mumbled, his vision still going every which way so he could pay attention to everything at once. However, it wasn't helping his head so he had to slow down. "Not even when Godzilla goes swimming for a week do they try to invade his territory. Something's going on somewhere and they don't count on him coming back strong or coming back at all."

This made Sam pale. "What does that mean for us?"

Danny just shrugged and gave her a helpless look. "I don't really know, Sam."

* * *

 **It's currently raining outside and I HOPE IT NEVER STOPS. LET IT RAIN!**

 **Thanks to these people for favoriting/following: _Harpy81, GrayAngel564._**


	8. Scramble

Ch.7: Scramble

Pressing a hand to his head, Danny grimaced at the splitting headache starting to crack his skull open. It started at his forehead and made a straight line through his head to the back of his skull. The two points were where it hurt the worst, keeping his attention on it when he should be thinking of other things, _more important_ things, than how much his head hurt. Even still, it kept most of his attention, taunting him and laughing no matter how many times he tried to divert his train of thought elsewhere.

A sweaty but cool hand pressed against his shoulder. The physical touch was enough to get Danny's attention and keep it, instead of being snatched away again by the pain reverberating through his head. Danny looked at his female friend, who sat pressed up against his side. She flinched every time the ground rumbled under them, though the constant feeling of the earth rocking under them was starting to fade as they became nullified to its effects. Danny hummed quietly at her before whispering, "Yeah Sam. What's the matter?"

Violet eyes looked the boy up and down silently, watching as Danny squinted at her with his blue orbs. His hand hovered over his forehead, whereas before it had been pressed tightly against his skin. Sam squeezed his shoulder comfortingly before she quietly asked, "You doing ok, Danny?"

"Yeah." Danny answered, nodding his head as he rubbed his temple to ease the ache. It didn't help any but it made him feel less useless when he wasn't just sitting there and being miserable. The teen's free hand rested on top of Sam's reassuringly and he mumbled, "Just a headache. It'll go away. They always do, though it would help if the fucking kaiju outside would stop prancing around like a puppy chasing a butterfly."

As if to mock the two teenagers further, the ground shifted and buckled under them, taking a giant leap in aggressiveness. Sam and Danny both had a small heart-attack at the aggressiveness but having each other close helped them calm down quicker. For extra reassurance, the two of them shifted closer to each other and leaned heavily against their friend. Danny's hurting head rested on top of Sam's, who was just a smidgen shorter than he was, and Sam looped her arm with her male friend's, linking their hands.

Outside and in the distance, Anguirus could roughly be seen over the tall treetops. The horned kaiju was still investigating his new surroundings, his four feet landing heavily on the ground every few seconds and shaking each of the teenagers' up roughly and making them dizzy. All the trees rocked and swayed unsteadily, the ground under them shifting and turning. All the birds had taken to the sky, soaring with the clouds and zipping just above the treetops. Some tried to land a few times but they quickly launched themselves into the air again when the trees rattled.

Occasionally, Danny would peek outside but the light from the sun was starting to hurt his eyes, which, in turn, hurt his head worse. Sam didn't seem to be having the same problem as he, though she was starting to look agitated at being shaken and rattled around like a ragdoll. He could understand that. Danny, too, was starting to become agitated at the constant trembles that seized his whole body every few seconds.

Frowning as she slowly looked back and forth between Danny and the roaming kaiju in the distance, Sam shook her friend a little again to get his attention. Danny perked to attention, looking at her again with his squinted blue eyes. He hummed at her in question and Sam asked him, "Alright Danny, we need to think of what we're going to do. We can't just sit here forever, if you know what I mean."

"I don't know what else we're going to do though." Danny whispered irritably, turning his head towards so he could stare at the stomping Anguirus. Despite the kaiju being as far away as he was, the teen was still trying to be as quiet as he could, scared to think of the consequences that would befall him and his friend if they were heard. "Sure, Godzilla's pretty neutral to us but who knows how the other monsters feel about humans? If we get caught, it might mean that we just signed our death certificates. I don't know about you, Sam, but I really don't feel like dying anytime soon, if that's ok with you."

Resisting the intense desire to smack the boy beside her, Sam rolled her eyes and clung tighter to the hand nestled in hers clenched her other one. With a sigh, Sam shook her head and replied quietly, "Wow Danny, thanks for painting me as suicidal. Really, you don't know how much I appreciate it. But the reason I'm asking you in the first place is so we both stay alive! We can't stay holed up in here until Godzilla decides to come back, maybe win the fight, or maybe lose. Who even knows how long he'll be gone in the first place? We'll run out of food long before then and our firewood is only gonna last so long."

"We are _not_ lighting a fire for anything." Danny hissed, snapping his head to look at Sam and glare at her. For a moment, Sam faltered at the fiery look the boy was giving her, having never seen such an aggressive stare on his face. However, she got over it quickly, remembering that Danny also hadn't been out of his element in a long time, which made him nervous. However, her brief moment of uncertainty caused Danny to calm down and regain his cool, despite his pounding head and simmering irritation. Quietly, the boy mumbled, "Sorry."

"It's ok." Sam replied, patting Danny's hand still holding hers, and she nodded her head to show she agreed with his earlier statement, despite the way he harshly put it. Lighting a fire at night, during the day even, would surely draw attention to their little abode and neither of them wanted Anguirus to find them. They'd have to go without it for awhile but they'd survive. It's what they did.

Danny sighed, trying to calm down his racing heart further. Though his irritation stayed, still bubbling because of the headache splitting his skull in two, he'd find a way to contain it. He didn't want to snap at Sam like that again, especially when she was trying to get everything under control when their whole world was literally starting to shake and crumble. And she'd been so nice to him over the time she'd washed up on shore. It wasn't fair to her that he should be so impatient over something so superficial (though his headache didn't _feel_ superficial).

"Alright…" Danny mumbled, much calmer than a moment ago. Closing his eyes, the teen boy quietly said, "No fire. We have food for the rest of the day so that's how much time we have to think of ideas. If we're lucky, Anguirus has a time he wanders away or winds down, like Godzilla. If we're not, he's hyperactive and we're gonna have to go on secret missions to make sure we stay alive and get all the nutrients we need."

"Nice thoughts, Danny, nice thoughts. Keep them up for me, will ya?" Sam responded sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Danny wasn't pleased by her taunt, showing it clear on his face, but the black-haired girl couldn't bring herself to care, not when they were both quickly becoming tired of being shaken around by the kaiju's stomping. "So we're going to have to monitor Anguirus' schedule. This should be fun."

Not amused in the least, Danny frowned and rubbed his face with his free hand. Sarcastically, the teen boy mumbled, "Well, that shouldn't be too hard when we can tell where he is at all times by climbing a tree and if he's awake or nearby from the ground shaking or not."

"Don't get smart with me." Sam muttered darkly, flicking the boy on the side of the head. Danny yelped a little, shooting the girl another glare. It wasn't heated like the last time he'd snapped at her but it was still a drastic change from his usually enamoring smile that could charm anyone with its initial shyness and slight obliviousness. However, that's what happened when everything you knew and were used to was suddenly thrown into the air and you didn't know where anything was going to land.

Releasing the boy's hand, Sam stood up and steadied her sleeping legs by placing her hands against the wall. Though the unstable ground didn't help any, Sam still managed to keep upright with minimum effort. Gesturing for the boy to follow her, the violet-eyed girl carefully made her way deeper into the cave without waiting for Danny to follow. The boy, who was hesitant to leave his spot, looked between the cave entrance and where Sam was disappearing to, as if he were afraid to be caught. However, Danny was up and following a moment later. The two teens walked until their view of the treetops and everything above it was gone and then they collapsed into the dirt.

"What are we doing?" Danny asked, suddenly feeling much safer being so deep in the cave. The only downside was that he couldn't watch whatever it was that Anguirus was doing outside. He'd make do though, seeing as the trembling ground was still coming and going very quickly in short bursts, making his head continually pound in time with the tremors from the ground.

"Well, seeing as we're gonna be stuck here for awhile, we might as well get some knowledge into your brain." Sam muttered, shrugging at him. Danny only nodded and watched as Sam drew in the dirt with her index finger. Or, at least, she tried to draw in the dirt. The short tremors caused her hand to shoot in directions she didn't mean to draw in and the loose dirt coating the floor shifted so it covered up the marks she made. No matter how much she tried, it was a losing battle. When Sam finally accepted this, she blew a strand of black hair out of her face and mumbled, "Ok, we'll try something else then…"

The two teenagers situated themselves beside each other but turned so they were also facing each other, getting close enough to hear over the dull roar of the mini-earthquakes and the incessant rustling of the tree leaves and branches without having to yell at the other. Carefully, Sam tried to explain how the water table worked. She did her best to simplify it as much as possible, giving many examples and ways of explaining it through other things Danny knew about and understood better. Even so, it was hard for her to get her point across when she didn't have anything like a simple, scraggly doodle to refer to in the sand.

It didn't help Danny was being particularly trying either, much more so than usual. He snapped at the girl, gave her glares, and frowned constantly, mostly because he couldn't quite catch the meaning of what Sam was trying to teach him. Without the visuals, it was harder to connect the words his teacher was explaining and re-explaining to him. It didn't help his patience was already wearing thin from his piercing headache and the small bursts of trembling the kaiju was continually sending their way. Getting frustrated over his inability to comprehend science, his best subject thus far, only lessened his patience further, which made him more frustrated.

Danny's vicious little cycle continued until Sam sighed, gave up on figuring out a way to explain the water table simply, and told Danny they were done with science for awhile. Though his frown only deepened at her casual dismissal, the black-haired boy didn't object and asked what else they were going to do. Sam searched her brain for something easier and answered, "I'll tell you a story and you answer my questions. How about that?"

Sighing irritably, Danny nodded his head, though he wasn't overly enthusiastic about their next activity. He's wasn't very good at answering some of the questions Sam liked to ask him, which were always the important ones, but it was better than doing nothing at all at this point.

Though it wasn't a very smart move, Sam patted Danny's hand teasingly, earning an eye-roll in return. The girl ignored it easily and raked her brain for a story or just an idea to go on. This wasn't even supposed to be the hard part. The hard part was always making up the questions, as she had to find the moral of the story as well sometimes.

"Ok…" Sam muttered, her violet eyes turning towards the ceiling. She felt Danny's blue orbs locked on her, waiting impatiently for whatever story she was going to tell. It didn't bother her though. She was used to such looks by now, as it wasn't the first time she'd had problems thinking of a story. Luckily for her, one suddenly came to mind, one she hoped Danny would be able to understand easily, and she started, "So, once upon a time, Saint Nicholas came down to earth to see how the world was at springtime."

The boy's face twisted into confusion at the official sounding name and Sam wanted to facepalm. Of course the teen didn't know who the hell St. Nicholas was. Or maybe he did but knew him better as Santa Claus. Who knew? Sam didn't feel like delving into it at the moment.

With another shake of the ground, more dust fell from the ceiling and got into her eye. Sam started scraping it out of her eyeball as she continued, "As Saint Nicholas investigated the world and ate some hazelnuts he'd stored in his pocket, he came to a crossroad and saw that Ill-Luck was resting for a time." Before Danny could ask if he should know who that was, Sam held up a hand, silencing him, and elaborated, "Ill-Luck was as old as time with white hair and ash-grey skin with two wings protruding out his back, for he comes and goes quickly to the people he sees, bringing misfortune upon to whomever he visits."

The boy's confusion disappeared from his face and he nodded, unconsciously reaching up to rub his temple again. Sam soothingly continued, "Now, as Saint Nicholas stumbled upon Ill-Luck, he noticed that one of his hazelnuts had a wormhole in it and decided to help mankind out a little bit. Stopping at the crossroad, he greeted Ill-Luck and Ill-Luck replied with his own greeting. Nicholas commented that Ill-Luck looked as strong as ever and Ill-Luck replied that he was, having had so much to do with his time. Nicholas asked if it was true that Ill-Luck could go wherever he wanted, even through a tiny keyhole. Ill-Luck eagerly responded that he could. Holding up the hazelnut with the wormhole, Nicholas told Ill-Luck to prove it by fitting into the hazelnut."

Though the ground still rumbled incessantly under them, Danny had stopped rubbing his head and was starting to look less agitated than before, which was enough to calm whatever sparks of irritation were in Sam. The two tried their best to ignore the rumbling to keep their sanity and their newfound calmness.

"Ill-Luck, of course, accepted the challenge and made himself smaller and smaller until he could fit into the tiny wormhole in the hazelnut. Then, when Ill-Luck was still inside, Saint Nicholas put a tiny wooden plug into the hole, trapping Ill-Luck inside. Having done the world a great deed, Nicholas threw the nut under an old tree nearby and went on his way." Sam continued, a small grin twitching at the corners of her lips. Danny was starting to mimic it, though it wasn't as obvious as Sam's. She didn't mind as she continued, "Well, now that Ill-Luck was stuck in a nut, no misfortune was brought to anyone. Time went on without him until, one day, a fiddler came by the oak tree. He was tired from traveling and he sat down to rest. As he did, he heard a voice calling, telling whoever could hear the voice to let him out.

"Confused, the fiddler asked who the voice was. The little voice answered that he was Ill-Luck and wished to be released, begging the fiddler to release him from his prison. However, the fiddler replied that he didn't want to release Ill-Luck, as the world was better off without him, and then got up to leave. However, he paused, wondering how Ill-Luck was trapped. The fiddler asked Ill-Luck where he was and he was told that Ill-Luck was trapped in the hazelnut by the oak tree."

Now Danny seemed anxious to hear what happened next, forgetting all about everything happening around him. Sam, pleased beyond understanding, kept it to herself, no matter how much she wanted to tell someone how excited her student was to hear more of one of her favorite stories.

"The fiddler searched under the oak-tree until he found the nut Ill-Luck was stuck in. He found the plug keeping Ill-Luck trapped inside and, feeling the need to see if Ill-Luck really _was_ trapped inside the nut, grabbed the tiny little plug and plucked it out.

"Ill-Luck came out in an instant. He gave the fiddler no room to talk as Ill-Luck said that, for letting him out after so many years of being trapped inside the hazelnut, he would give the fiddler some good luck for once. Plucking the fiddler up and still giving him no time to talk, off they went into the distance and over all sorts of landscapes until Ill-Luck dropped the fiddler off in a garden. Then he took off with greater needs to attend to than the fiddler."

Sam noticed that Danny had stopped rubbing his aching temple, wholly enraptured in the story now and pushing the headache to the back of his brain without even realizing it. The tremors were nothing to them now and whatever sounds Anguirus made as he scurried around were lost to the both of them.

"When the fiddler regained his bearings, he realized he was in a beautiful garden. As he ventured around the space, he noticed a grand ole house and all the servants running around. The fiddler went inside the house and no one told him not to so he investigated all the rooms, each one more splendid than the last one. Finally, he came to a large dining room where a little old man sat a table filled with wonderful food sitting on gold plates. Even though there was only the old man, two plates sat out and the old man told the fiddler to join him.

"As the fiddler did as he was told and began eating as if he hadn't eaten in weeks, the man explained that, since he was old and nearing the end of his time, he wanted to find an heir. Since he had no wife or child, the man vowed to take on the first person that came to him as his own daughter or son and, when he finally passed, would give everything to that single person, his heir. And that one person was the fiddler, who was astonished and so very happy to hear what the man had to say.

"For a few days, the fiddler was happy with all he had. He enjoyed being lazy and investigating the land that was to be his. However, his joy began to dwindle as he wondered where everything came from. He pestered the old man incessantly and, though it took some time for the old man to give in, the fiddler was finally shown a trapdoor in the back of the garden that led to a large chamber underneath the ground with a door in the back. All sorts of treasures lay within the chamber and the fiddler was astonished by the sheer amount. The old man explained that his entire wealth was in the chamber, which would soon be passed onto the fiddler, but he also warned never to enter the door in the back, for Ill-Luck would find him.

"The fiddler vowed he never would as he left but, soon enough, he was back to look through the keyhole to just peek at what was behind the door. However, there was no keyhole. The fiddler figured he'd already come such a way to the door that he might as well open the door just a tiny crack to find out what was behind it. When he did, he saw there was nothing and, confusedly, opened it the rest of the way. Behind the door was a long tunnel with light at the end. The sounds of waves met his ears. Curiously, the fiddler walked down the passage and found himself on the seashore."

Danny tilted his head at Sam, blinking curiously at her as she continued her story. He was on edge, waiting for something bad to happen. However, the girl only smiled at the boy reassuringly and continued, "Then the fiddler was plucked into the air and, when he looked up, he saw that his captor was Ill-Luck. The two flew until Ill-Luck dropped the fiddler in a tree in another garden and then left, leaving the fiddler to dangle in the branches.

"Sitting under the tree the fiddler was dropped in was a beautiful woman, a queen. She was also a widow, for her husband, the king, had died. He had left everything to her, all the riches and the entire kingdom, and she was upset, for all the princes and men wanted to marry her. Even at the moment, there were three princes at her palace trying to marry her and it was tiring to be sought out in such a way. She had gone to the garden to get away from everything.

"The queen screamed when the fiddler dropped from the branches and asked where he had come from. The fiddler replied that Ill-Luck had dropped him off in the garden but the queen resolved that it was not Ill-Luck, but Good Luck, that had dropped him off and told him that she had seen him fall from heaven. She said he was to be her husband, to rule with her and take half the kingdom, and the two were married while all the other princes were sent on their way."

Danny looked confused at the sudden turn of events, wondering why everything was happening the way it was. However, there was more to come so Sam continued with a sly smile, "The fiddler was shown every bit that he now had under his possession with the queen at his side every step of the way. The only thing she told him never to investigate was one door, for surely Ill-Luck would sweep him away. The fiddler told his wife that he wouldn't.

"However, once again, the fiddler's interest was piqued and he told himself he would only look through the keyhole. Once again, though, there was no keyhole and he wondered if the passage would be the same on the other side. So he opened the door and looked inside and- sure enough –the passage was on the other side. He was confused when he couldn't hear the ocean and ventured inside the doorway again."

Now Danny was sporting the classic 'you idiot, don't you dare-don't you dare-don't you dare' look every reader wore at least one time for each book they read. He leaned forward, wishing the greedy fiddler wouldn't be so stupid as to test his luck again. Who knew what would happen then?

It amused Sam greatly to see him this way.

"The fiddler landed on the beach again and was swept away by Ill-Luck. They traveled over the land again until the fiddler was dropped back under the tree at the crossroad once again. Ill-Luck was gone and the fiddler had no more riches that he could've had, if only he hadn't been enticed to search for more."

The teen groaned, falling on his back and facepalming as the ground vibrated roughly against his back for a few moments before it stopped again. Danny mumbled some choice words under his breath, greatly amusing Sam as she watched with a smug smirk on her face. It took a few moments for Danny to calm down and sit back up, looking at Sam expectantly. "What do I have to answer now?"

Laughing, Sam asked, "Alright, so who was the main character?"

The two went along with these questions. Danny could easily answer the first couple of questions without much thought, until Sam started asking questions centering on the deeper meanings and representations in the story she had just recited to him. It took him longer to figure out these questions but, if given enough time, he could give her an adequate answer that could pass for being correct, though Sam helped elaborate with him on his answers.

Finally, they came around to the last question, which Sam put as bluntly as possible. "What's the lesson the story teaches us?"

From the look on the boy's face, Danny knew the answer, just not how to put it into words. Sam gave him time, tilting her head at him patiently. Finally, Danny just muttered, "Don't wish for more when you already have enough..?"

Sam grinned and nodded. "Yup. Pretty much. Though an easier way to say it is 'be happy with what you have.' Even your headaches. Be especially happy with your headaches."

Her reply earned an amused snort and another eye roll. Sam chuckled a little bit before she began another story.

That's how the two teenagers spent the rest of the day: telling stories back and forth when Danny got tired of just listening. It kept their minds off their predicament, eased their anxiety, and helped them ignore the earthquakes under their bodies and over the perimeter of Godzilla's home turf. They loosened up, getting a little crazier with every story as the day passed them by without remorse. Soon enough, night fell around them and the two slumped against each other in tiredness from doing nothing all day.

Curling up in their beds, the two teenagers laid close to each other for warmth, warding off the chill of the night. However, neither of the two could fall asleep with the ground shaking so much and no thoughts being whimsical enough to keep their attention elsewhere. Sam and Danny tossed and turned, sticking close as they shifted around to find a comfortable spot on the hard ground as everything rocked under them.

However, there finally came a time when the two of them started to drift to sleep. Neither teenager realized it, the feeling so natural, until Danny's eyes snapped open in realization.

The shaking had ceased.

* * *

 **I AM SO READY FOR THIS TO BE OVER. *facepalm* Anyways, am I the only one that gets super agitated when people decide to shake me around? I hate it so much, especially when I'm trying to concentrate (which is all the time), and it's just... GAH.**

 **Thanks for favoriting/following:** ** _Yijasha, TateRobinson35._**


	9. Reversed Routines

Ch.8: Reversed Routines

Bolting up, Danny looked outside with his wide blue eyes. For the first time all day, none of the scenery in front of him started to blur from the trembling earthquakes under him. The trees, now tilting to the side because of their disrupted foundation, were still and silent, not a whisper blowing through them. The hoards of birds that had been spotting the sky just a little while ago had vanished. The only sounds that could be heard came from the stream just a distance away, nothing but a hush in the darkness.

The stars in the sky twinkled and flickered in and out. The moon was only a crescent hanging on its side, forming a Cheshire-cat grin against the black sky. The landscape under the black canvas was coated in the moon's unhindered blue-white light. Everything looked whimsical and otherworldly in the light, looking very akin to a fairytale picture in an ancient book. The scene was perfectly gorgeous and so perfectly still. It seemed so special after having everything thoroughly thrown about for the majority of the day.

Excitedly, all exhaustion forgotten, Danny turned to his sleeping friend as she silently lay beside him, breathing evenly as she drifted on the hairy edge of slumber. The teen boy grabbed her shoulder and shook her suddenly, startling the girl into alertness as Danny whispered, "Psst, Sam! Wake up wake up wake up! You need to wake up, girlie! We have things to do!"

Trying her damn hardest to calm her racing heart down, Sam pushed herself onto her elbows groggily and looked over her shoulder. With out-of-focus violet eyes, Sam stared at the excited teen boy beside her and reached up to rub whatever sleepiness had managed to creep into her eyes. Completely dazed and voice tired, Sam muttered, "What? What happened? Danny, I'm gonna fucking kill you if you're waking me up to discuss a dream you had again. Seriously, this is getting old."

Rolling his eyes in mild amusement, Danny shook his head at his friend and continued to shake her shoulder to wake her up. That resulted in getting slapped but the boy wasn't deterred in the least. If anything, it made him that much more determined to get her up and on her feet. He expressed this anxiousness through his words as he happily said, "No, it's not that! This is much more important, Sam! Come on, get up already! You and me have got work to do while we still have a chance!"

"What the hell are you even talking about, Danny? I'm trying to get some sleep here." Sam muttered unhappily, pushing herself in a casual sitting position beside her friend as she glared at the boy. It didn't last long, however, because the boy grabbed her hand and pulled her up immediately, getting her to yelp before Danny clamped a hand over her mouth mid-yell. Now fully awake and pissed off, Sam turned her violet eyes into a menacing glare and directed it at the grinning Danny. Though relieved that the teen boy was back to being what he always was, that didn't stop Sam from saying some very unladylike words into the hand pressed firmly over her mouth.

Still grinning and highly amused, Danny chuckled under his breath and shook his head at the girl's show. Cutting her rant of curse words off, the teen asked, "Come on, Sam, don't you get it? Is there something in the world that's missing? Like, I dun know, _earthquakes_ or something?"

It took a few seconds for the full meaning of Danny's words to hit Sam and, once it finally did, it was like a sack of bricks to the face. The teen boy dropped his hand from the girl's mouth as she stared blankly into oblivion. Danny snapped his finger's in Sam's face to get her back to the present and, once grounded back to reality, the black-haired girl muttered, "Holy shit…"

Danny nodded his head excitedly and grabbed the girl's hand again, dragging the girl behind him as they scurried outside. Sam nearly tripped over her feet from the sudden pull but caught herself easily, having had many 'almost face-plants' from Danny trying to hurry her up in the past. It was now nothing new and part of daily ritual.

Crossing the clearing easily, Danny released Sam's hand and hurriedly climbed into the tree he had earlier in the day. It was now bent to the side, some of its roots sticking out from the ground, but that didn't make it any harder to climb. If anything, some of the branches were closer to the ground, making it easier to get up into the branches for the two shorties stranded on the island.

After jumping into one of the lower branches effortlessly, Danny situated himself in a crouch, balancing lightly on the balls of his feet. Holding onto another branch carefully, Danny reached down to grab Sam's hand. Though she didn't need any help getting up, she allowed the boy to pull her up beside him anyways. After making sure their companion was steady, the two of them each gave each other a nod before beginning the climb to the top. Danny went first, remembering most of the branches he had taken the first time he'd climbed it just that morning. Sam slithered up behind him, weaving in and out of all the branches in her way as if she were a snake.

As they got closer to the top, the branches grew thinner and were far less stable than the ones at the base of the tree a few stories below them. It took some time for Danny to test the branches he came across, trying to judge if each of the branches could hold him and Sam at the same time. However, he did manage to find one after a time and gestured for the black-haired girl to join him on the branch. Sam did as he implied, crawling up beside him. The two of them both started scouting the horizon for the massive figure that had been rocking their world all day long. It would be even better if they didn't find a trace of the creature at all though.

Luck was not on their side, though it was giving them a small break for once. The kaiju Anguirus was lying in the far distance, resting snuggly in a nest of trees. With the moonlight shining down on him, Anguirus looked like he was light blue instead of the usual brown-black overtaking his entire body during the day. His spikes rose to the air but couldn't quite meet the sky like Godzilla's large dorsal fins could. The creature's head was turned to the side so neither teen could see the kaiju's eyes, which they both assumed were closed, though neither were a hundred percent sure. The only movement Anguirus made was his breathing, his entire body rising and falling in time with his even breaths.

Sam and Danny glanced at each other, small grins overcoming their face. Silently as ever, the teen boy gestured towards the ground and Sam nodded in understanding, quickly beginning the descent towards the Earth under them. Right behind her, Danny slipped from branch to branch behind her, landing on each one lightly. The tree's limbs barely swayed as the two gracefully descended, only slipping once or twice on the rough surface of the tree's bark.

The raven-haired girl landed on the ground first, jumping down from the last branch and landing heavily on her feet as her knees bent. Sam quickly straightened again though, stepping quickly out of the way and not a moment too soon. Danny landed in her spot the second she was gone, kicking up more dirt as he did. He straightened up quickly again too, nodding his head towards their shelter. Instantly, both of them hurried back so they discuss things more privately, even though the sleeping kaiju was miles away from their location and, as far as they knew, no other human person inhabited the island.

Stopping just inside the mouth of the cave, Danny and Sam stopped and excitedly bounced in front of each other with bright smiles on their faces. All of their earlier exhaustion was gone, nothing but overwhelming hype taking its place in their bodies. The two shivered in anticipation at what they could now do if they didn't bring any attention to themselves.

"Alright, alright, let's calm down." Danny said quietly, shaking all of the trembles from his body and being the voice of reason for once. Sam nodded her head in agreement, calming her own body down as well. Taking a breath, Danny continued, "We've got some time before we're going to be holed up in here again for who knows how long. We need to gather more food than we usually do, just in case Anguirus is going through a phase and he doesn't sleep for the next week. Sound good to you?"

"Yeah, yeah." Sam said, nodding her head in agreement. Rocking back and forth on her feet, the girl looked out towards the vast jungle again and asked, "Is that all we need to do? I mean, we can't start a fire so there's no use in getting firewood. Is food really all we need?"

Danny racked his brain for something else they would need but, unsurprisingly, there was nothing else they would really need from the forest. The teen boy shook his head at the girl, silently telling her no, and replied, "Not really. I mean, besides the firewood, that's really all we've been getting in the mornings anyways. So is it really all that surprising?"

Shaking her head, Sam agreed with the boy. Danny smiled at her, earning a smile in return, and trotted to the back of the cave again. He grabbed the empty sack off the ground before rushing back to the front of the cave again. Danny and Sam exited the cave together, quietly discussing which fruits they wanted to nab before they retreated back to their shelter again. Hopefully, Anguirus would be asleep for awhile, giving the two teenagers enough time to grab enough food for a good while without spoiling from being left long enough off the tree without being eaten.

The two easily slipped into the brush, traveling the path the teenagers knew by heart. They followed it carefully, looking out for any strange dark shapes that could potentially be a slithering reptile or some other creepy-crawly. However, it was hard to see under the thick canopy of trees hanging above their heads. It blocked out most of the bright moonlight, causing the recesses of the thick jungle to become nearly pitch black.

Sam took the front of the tiny line for once, having Danny follow behind her silently. Unlike him, she had shoes. While they had quickly been worn out over the few weeks, they were still somehow semi-intact and that was better than nothing on a critter-infested island. They barely knew what was in front of them and it would do neither of them any good if Danny stepped on a snake by mistake and was bitten because of it, just like his 'good' acquaintance Walker whom Danny had affectionately called 'the arrogant prick.'

As the teenagers came across various fruit trees of all kinds, the two teenagers climbed up and into the branches. The two stayed alert for any of the tree-dwelling creatures as they slowly climbed up with Sam ahead of Danny as he held tightly onto the sack he carried with him. The two of them were sneaky and silent as they weaved through all the different branches. Occasionally, one of the two would run smack-dab into a branch and groan, which made their companion snicker hysterically into their arm at their inability to see the object just above their head.

Some of the fruits were harder to get than others. Bananas required that you have a tree tall and close enough to snatch the fruit from the top of the plant. Lots of citrus trees were covered in thorns, creating a small fortress for the hanging fruit that was hard to navigate during the day, never-mind the middle of the night. There were plenty of times the two teenagers either had to crawl back down to the ground or help each other get out of the snare of thorns they'd been caught in. Whatever scratches they received, Danny healed within a few seconds.

One time while Sam sat on a branch and carefully undid her best friend's messy, tangled hair from another line of thorns, Danny grinned up at her in the darkness and said, "You know, we've been caught in these thorns a ridiculous amount of times tonight. Maybe if I made my traps out of this stuff, I'd catch more animals."

The raven-haired girl snorted and rolled her eyes at her friend before she teasingly pulled on the string of thorns a little too roughly. Danny yelped and jerked his head, pulling on the thorns even more. Sam laughed and ignored Danny's glare as she pulled his head back, working through his greasy strands again with a smug smirk on her face as she let her dangling feet swing back and forth, bumping against Danny's torso every few seconds from his lower elevation.

Even though they had some troubles along the way, the two teenagers managed to grab quite a bit of fruit. They both averaged that they would have enough for a few days or, at least, they hoped they did. It would suck if their calculations had been off and they stayed stuck in their shelter for longer than they had food for. However, Danny said if it came to that, they were going to have to go on a 'secret mission' to keep themselves alive. They'd just watch for Anguirus carefully when they did. Hopefully, they wouldn't be caught if it came to such extreme measures.

Danny and Sam wandered back to the cave when they finished. The boy carried the sack over his shoulder easily, chatting lightly with Sam as she led him along the dark trail the two of them knew so well. The girl was careful where she stepped as she spoke to Danny, keeping an eye out for any creature or inanimate thing that could harm either of them, whether the danger was from a bite or simply from tripping and falling over on themselves.

When they both finally stumbled into the clearing, it took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the bright moonlight covering the open expanse. After being in the pitch black jungle for so long, neither of the teenagers was prepared to be blinded by the moon when they stepped back into the clearing. Luckily for them, though, the moon wasn't nearly as strong as, say, the sun and, soon enough, their pupils had adjusted their size, making seeing much easier than before and not nearly as painful.

The black-haired boy hid the sack in the back of the dark cave while Sam leaned against wall near the mouth. Danny turned back around once he had finished, flashing a tired smile at his companion just a small distance away. He wandered back over to her, stopped in front of her, and placed his hands casually on his hips. "So, now that we got that done, you wanna hit the hay now? Or maybe you want to do something else while we have time to kill?"

Sam smiled at Danny's tired expression, though he was giving no mind to how tired he was. She wasn't worn out like he was but she, at heart, was also a hardcore night-owl so it didn't overly surprise her. Shaking her head at the boy, Sam replied, "Well, I was gonna hit the beach for a little bit before I decided to go to bed. You don't have to come though. I just want to stretch my legs for a little bit, in case we don't get out of the cave for awhile."

"Climbing a shit ton of trees wasn't stretching our legs?" Danny teasingly asked, gesturing wildly to the silent jungle as the stream continued to hush it. He shook his head at Sam, ignoring the way she snorted in amusement, and muttered, "Geez, you're completely nuts, Sam. How do you live like that..? Uh, anyways, yeah, I'm going. The buddy system is essential to survival, after all."

Sam reached up, patted the boy's cheek patronizingly, and smiled deviously at him, making Danny raise an eyebrow. Sam said, "Yeah, that's only true if you want the enemy to shoot at someone else."

Danny had to slap a hand over his mouth so he didn't shake the forest with his laughter, which would officially screw him and Sam over. However, neither teenager was overly worried. Sam began waltzing towards the well-worn path again, ready to delve back into the dark jungle again, with or without Danny. However, the boy stumbled after her, still laughing quietly into his hand at the unexpected response his companion had given him.

With Sam in the lead once again, the duo slipped through the brush again as quiet as mice. Their steps stayed consistently light against the dusty ground, making not a noise. Sam kept her eyes out for any surprises, shying away from anything that looked even mildly threatening in the dark. Behind her, Danny placed his feet wherever his friend's had been, staying as close to her as he dared as they tiptoed along the path to the beach.

Soon enough, they were exiting the thick tree-line again and landing softly on the cool sand covering the beach. Huge pieces of debris that neither Danny nor Sam could haul stuck out of the sand still, tainting the untouched shoreline with its manufactured designs. Smaller pieces, like the broken glass dolphin Danny had held for a short time, had been buried by the sand or by the teenagers own hands for amusement. Though there weren't nearly as much damaged items visible as before, the beach still managed to look like a clash between a primitive time and the industrial age.

The waves lapped against the shore quietly. The waves rushed in, trying to reach the distant land, but always fell short. The waves would retreat, crash into a different wave, and hinder another wave's efforts before the process of reaching the land started again. Farther out in the sea, the water rose and fell again and again, shattering the image of the moon stretched across the glass-like surface into a million different shards. Even with its broken reflection, however, the moon continued to light the world with the light it borrowed from the sun, turning everything into a shade of blue.

"It's beautiful." Sam commented as she paused, no more than a few steps from the tree-line she had just stepped through. Her violet eyes wandered the length of the beach, taking everything in, from the towering hunks of metal half in the water and the small, broken shells spotting the pale sand. All the objects glowed dimly from the light covering them so completely.

A reminiscent grin twitched at the corners of Danny's lips as he, too, took in all the sights the beach had to offer. He shoved his hands into his thin pockets, turning his head slowly as scanned the beach as well. "Yeah. It kind of reminds me of a fairytale picture… When Kitty was still alive, she'd take me here at night sometimes so we could just stare into the distance and talk away from all the others. When she died, I brought Skulker down here. I'd sit and he'd lean against a tree and, even though we never said anything to each other, it still just felt nice to have someone to share that kind of thing with, you know?"

"Yeah. I know exactly what you mean." Sam stated, a smile blossoming across her face. Her violet eyes found their way to Danny's face and, once he finally looked back at her, she nodded her head towards the shoreline, where the waves continued to lap gently, making sure the sand stayed forever damp. "Come on. Let's sit and talk."

Danny smiled and nodded and, silently, the pair meandered down to the very edges of the where the waves could reach. The teens settled down in the dry sand and dug their toes into the damp sand just a foot or two from where they sat down. The waves rushed to meet their sandy feet but missed by nothing more than a few paces. The water retreated again but, in a few moments, it was back again. This time it got the tips of their toes wet before it had to slide away again, back towards the ocean.

"So what did you and Kitty used to talk about?" Sam asked curiously, glancing from the sparkling, foaming waves to Danny as he watched the waves far from the shore rise and fall, like a person breathing easily as they slumbered peacefully and dreamed impossible things. The boy's blue eyes glanced at the girl by his side before they went back to watching the ocean's gentle, hushed breathing.

"Anything. Everything." Danny answered, shrugging casually. "She used to like to tell me stories. I think most of them she made up, being the eccentric weirdo she was. Other ones she told me always struck some familiarity in me but I could never remember the rest of the story before she told it or where I might've heard it before. Other times, she asked me to tell her a story and I'd always try to think up the craziest, most ridiculous thing I could to tell her. They always made her laugh."

Sam imagined a younger Danny, no bigger than an average preteen, sitting with an older woman she knew so little about and knew nothing of the woman's physical appearance. However, the image was still adorable as she had her little mental images sitting on the beach like she and Danny were sitting now, smiling and laughing together as they glanced at each other and stared into the distance, as if, by some miracle, something appeared on the horizon. What it was though, neither of Sam's mental images knew. They just knew that there was something there and it gave them hope of getting back to their homes and their beloved families.

"That's sweet." Sam stated, making Danny snort in amusement. He mumbled something like 'yeah, sure, whatever' and Sam rolled her eyes. Slapping his arm lightly, the raven-haired girl said, "It is. Just accept the compliment and move on before I decide to take it back. Ok, boy?"

The raven-haired boy cackled amusedly, still staring at the sloshing waves as they broke the moon's reflection into so many different pieces. Danny bobbed his head in a nod, his hair falling up and down loosely as he did. His voice content and peaceful, Danny said, "Alright, Sam. I'll take the compliment and now you can't take it back unless I give it back. How does that make you feel?"

"It makes me feel like you're planning to backstab me or something."

"Oh geez. Then that statement came out really wrong sounding, huh?" Danny teasingly asked, laughing a little as Sam gave him an amused but questioning gaze. The raven-haired girl nodded her head at the boy's question, still over-thinking his simple statement while Danny stayed pretty oblivious to how badly he phrased his words. All he did to make up for it was mumble, "Whoopsie."

Sam rolled her eyes and shook her head, turning her gaze to the ocean as well. She leaned forward and braced her forearms against her propped-up knees.

Tilting his head, Danny stared at the back of Sam's head and blinked. The two of them sat in silence for a little bit, listening to nothing but the waves falling against each other and spraying mist into the air. Then Danny asked, "Do you and Valerie have a place to hide from the rest of the world and do nothing but talk?"

Peeking over her shoulder, Sam smiled at her companion and nodded. Her raven strands swished with the way she moved her head. As she brushed her hair out of her face, Sam answered, "We do. Both of ours houses have balconies we can climb onto so we can crawl onto the roof. So whenever we need to blow off steam or just felt crowded by everyone, we always retreated to the roof, ranted for a little bit, and, when we finally felt better, we plotted ways to take over the world and kill off all of our enemies."

Danny laughed, imaging Sam with her most devious look, bent over a table with a soldier's helmet placed firmly over her head. Sam laughed with him and continued, "There was one time we were talking about our plans so loudly that the neighbor screamed at us to shut up and get our butts back inside or she was gonna open a can of whoop-ass on our scheming faces. It was about as scary as me with the bullshit stick handy at all times."

"I don't know about that. I mean, the bullshit stick is pretty frikkin terrifying, if you ask me." Danny stated, grinning in contemplation as he looked the girl up and down, obviously sizing her up.

Sam shook her head, wagged her finger at the boy, and said, "No, no, no. You haven't seen my neighbor so you don't understand how terrifying being threatened by her is. That's why she can never keep a boyfriend for more than a week and why her seventy-year-old mother always seems to have her door locked."

However, Sam's statement only made Danny that much more disbelieving. He shook his head at her, told her that couldn't possibly be true, and then Sam went on to explain that her neighborhood had huge breast implants ("I'm not kidding when I say they're the size of two full-grown watermelons!"), a ridiculous amount of plastic surgery to her face ("She doesn't understand that she doesn't need a facelift but a _fork-lift_ to help the mess that is her face."), pointed fingernails that were always painted with vibrant colors ("They look like claws."), and way too much makeup ("She believes her face is a coloring book."). While Sam explained all that, she ignored how Danny rolled around and turned blue from the lack of oxygen making it to his lungs from his insane amount of mirth.

The two continued to chat and laugh through the night until the two of them were both practically dead on their feet. The teens trudged back to their cave as light started to paint the horizon. Danny and Sam both collapsed in their beds, hardly noticing that the ground was slowly starting to shake again as the horned kaiju began to rouse from his slumber. The teens fell asleep just as Anguirus stood on his four feet and began wandering again, just like the day before. Neither Sam nor Danny could be awakened though.

* * *

 **Alright, no update for this on Friday. I'm gonna post a one-shot for Kinzy on that day, seeing as I completely failed to give her an adequate x-mas present. And this is mostly unedited because I lost my original edited piece, like the fucking idiot I am, and I've got zero patience to go through it again right now. (Fucking idiot, I can't believe I fucking deleted the piece of shit...)**


	10. Down in Flames

Ch.9: Down in Flames

As the two teenagers quickly found out, adjusting their schedules to fit Anguirus' was much harder than they originally thought it would be. It didn't help that the large kaiju was fickle in his ways as well, occasionally sticking to it but also drawing away from it at surprising times too. The only thing either of the teens could keep consistent was their daytime routine, which was nothing more than them trying to get a few winks of sleep when Anguirus was most active as he roamed his new area.

It was hard for Danny and Sam to catch some sleep. The kaiju's footsteps shook them around, which never failed to give Danny an epic migraine. Despite how much they curled up around each other for comfort in the raging chaos, the sunlight irritated their dreary eyes and the small earthquakes scrambled their peaceful thoughts up into a million pieces. The heat was another factor that kept them up. Though they were hidden a shady cave, it still lingered over their sweaty skin, making everything unbearably warm and stuffy when they would prefer to be on the breezy beach not too far away.

Despite all this, both of the teenagers remained firm in their stance, eyes shut and curled up around each other as they ignored the hard ground under them, barely cushioned by the piles of clothes they each had. The boy had an arm loosely swung around Sam's waist as she clutched his hand, running her fingers over his scratched knuckles slowly and deliberately. The two breathed slowly, eyes squeezed shut against all the distractions around them. The duo tried to focus their thoughts on specific, peaceful thoughts but the quaking earth continued to mix them up and set them down in a chaotic order.

Dust rained down on Danny and Sam from the ceiling, coating their already dirty, greasy hair in more grime. Some of it landed on their faces, though it did nothing more than tickle than. The ebony-haired female wrinkled her nose at some of the dirt she breathed in, sneezing quietly into her arm. Danny didn't make a sound nor did he move, which suggested that he hadn't heard her. Sam didn't really mind and neither did she care as she asked, "Danny?"

"Yeah Sam?"

"Do you want to get out of here as much as I do?"

"Maybe even more so."

"I was just making sure."

The raven-haired boy hummed, nodding his head against the back of his friend's skull. He refused to open his eyes and blind himself against the light in the cave as he asked, "Do you wanna talk for a little while? Who knows? Maybe it'll finally lull us to sleep or something."

Sam hummed in agreement, nodding her head and shifting so she was lying on her side, facing Danny, even though neither of them opened their eyes. They both know that talking wasn't going to drag them into the dark depths of sleep. Danny only asked because talking could physically keep them grounded for a little while. Anguirus and his footsteps could shatter and splinter their thoughts but talking could bring order to their chaotic minds, calming them down and giving them enough to time to superglue their trains of thought back together again.

That, and talking proved to be a very good distraction from their current predicament.

"What do you wanna talk about?" Sam asked dryly, tapping her growing fingernails on the arm still dangled loosely around her middle. Vaguely, she thought about how she wouldn't allow any other male in the world to get as close as she did Danny. In fact, thus far, every boy that had tried (which hadn't been many) had been bitch-slapped unceremoniously and then cursed to the moon and back. Needless to say, none of the males had bothered to make a move since then, nor had they ever bothered to look her way.

Danny, who was oblivious the thought process his female friend had gone on, shrugged and hummed uncertainly. His mind bounced between subjects, rejecting each one he thought about for more than a second, and finally settling on one that wasn't necessarily fun but would have to do for now. "Do you think big, bad, and ugly outside is gonna sleep some tonight? He hasn't in two days and we ran out of rations this morning."

Ah yes, the fickle part of the kaiju's schedule… Sometimes he slept. Other times he didn't. It wouldn't be so bad for Danny and Sam if Anguirus at least stayed consistent in which nights he rested and didn't. Sometimes, the monster would sleep during the day for no obvious reason. That, in itself, wouldn't be so bad either but the duo was also usually asleep when he did and, by the time they woke, Anguirus was too.

The fucking kaiju was always keeping them guessing. The insult wouldn't hurt so much if Anguirus had a clue that they were there with him on the island. The monster was winning and he didn't even realize it! How was that fair?

Sam sighed at her friend's question, fully understanding where his quiet questioning was coming from. Besides, she rather preferred it when they discussed things over. Danny had all the capabilities of creating plenty of contingency plans on his own, having done it many a time since landing on the sandy beach a small distance from their shelter, but he always talked it over with her first before deciding on anything definite.

It was nice that Danny wanted her input on such important things. Then again, it was also awkward. It reminded Sam of an old, married couple, which was another reference clueless Danny didn't understand.

"I don't know." Sam answered, shrugging her shoulders at the boy. Her violet eyes watched the splashes of colors on her closed eyelids, trying to remember the name of the phenomena with much difficulty. "I don't think it matters either way. We both know we're going out tonight if he sleeps or not. If Anguirus doesn't decide to take a nap, we'll just have to be like little thieves stealing off into the night. Besides, if we don't get out of here for even a little while, I'm going to go crazy."

"Ditto." Danny mumbled, reaching up with his free hand to rub the dust and grime from his sweaty face. It took some scrubbing but the crusty bits came off quickly enough, allowing Danny to drop his arm from the air again. "I'm getting really tired of this crap all over me really quickly. I really wanna soak in the river."

Humming in agreement, Sam nodded her head against her makeshift pillow. "I feel ya, Danny. Soon, though, we'll be out of here for a little bit. Until then, however, I hope we can get some sleep. Neither of us really got any yesterday for obvious reasons."

The earthquakes rocking their world, the sunlight they normally loved, and the heat surrounding them had kept them up, much like they were being kept awake now. They had managed to nap a little bit during the day, when the earthquakes were much subtler, but they had spent most of the day awake, occasionally chatting like they were at the moment, but also silent for most of it. They had both thought through the day that the night would bring them peace, only for them to quietly suffer through the dark time of day as well. It had been miserable and they'd both grown snappish at each other occasionally.

"How long has it been since Anguirus has taken over this part of the island?" Danny asked curiously, trying to remember the amount of days and failing. It wasn't unusual for him; the days always seemed to blend together in his mind, bleeding over each other until he thought things that happened days before only transpired a day or so before. Sam was better about keeping the lapses in time straight, keeping everything in perfectly organized mental folders that hardly ever needed fixing.

"Three days." Sam stated dryly, frowning at the boy but still refusing to open her violet eyes. Her fingers were still tapping his arm in small rhythms, patterns from her piano lessons coming back to her easily as she drummed a song into the boy's arm without his knowledge. She couldn't remember which one it was, just that it had been her favorite practice tune. "He slept the first night so we've only been caught in here for two. It's still a long time though."

Danny hummed in agreement at the simple statement. Two days trapped inside a shelter was a lot of time and the feeling of boredom made it feel even longer. If it wasn't for his friend with the beautiful memory, he was sure he would've long since gone completely nuts, convinced that his imprisonment had been much longer than it was, alone except for the drifting, splintered thoughts (which probably would've been one of the main driving points in him losing his mind, now that he thought about it).

"So…" Sam drawled quietly, breathing out a long sigh as she did. With a small shift of her head, she asked, "What else do you wanna talk about, boy?"

"I dun know." Danny muttered, rubbing his dusty face to free himself of the dirt that had fallen from the ceiling again. He didn't know how Sam ignored it so easily. The grime made his skin itch every time he let it linger for more than a few minutes, shifting on his flesh when the ground shook and making his sweaty cheeks and forehead ticklish. "I'm all out of ideas. Got any on your person?"

Sam shrugged and asked Danny how his headache was. It started off a small conversation, usually with short questions and even shorter answers. While they both would've preferred to have an actual conversation about something important or funny, the duo couldn't put up the effort to do so when neither of them literally had zero energy. The only bright side was that the short snippets of talking allowed their thoughts to stay on track until exhaustion was weighing down on them so heavily that sleep came over them, despite all the distractions and disturbances around them.

Outside, the large kaiju that had taken residence of Godzilla's part of the island continued to roam absently, much like the King of Monsters used to do. His eyes scanned the ground under him as he meandered about, his footsteps sending the birds flying into the air and the trees falling onto their sides. Unknowingly, he invaded two teenager's dreams as they slumbered peacefully in a cave miles and miles away from his location, waiting for night to fall so they could scamper about in the darkness the large cluster of tress provided.

Anguirus paused in his wandering, looking towards the direction of the ocean. Some of the birds flying in large flocks in the sky dived to take residence in the calm trees to rest, something Anguirus paid little attention to. The kaiju's ears could barely pick up the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore and each other. Even still, it enticed him and, within seconds of contemplating, the monster had turned his body towards the direction of the tumbling waves, taking a step towards his new destination.

Startled by the sudden lurch the earth gave, the flocks of birds screeched before lifting into the sky on feathered wings. They steered to the side and out of the kaiju's way as he passed them and some soared higher into the air, climbing until they reached some of the lowest clouds hanging in the sky.

The day passed as it usually did and Anguirus enjoyed the area next to the beach covered in debris and metal. It was a strange sight but the kaiju didn't really care either. He figured it'd fade from his sights in time and lay down as the sun began setting on the western horizon. Contently, Anguirus watched as the sky was cast in the warmest colors and the water colors faded away. The clouds became stained with pink, red, and orange hues as the sun began disappearing under the tree-filled horizon. No birds spotted the sky as they had the entire day, as they were all resting in the still trees, vaguely wondering when Anguirus would begin his wandering again.

Eventually, though, the warm, bright colors painting the sky faded away too. Darkness took over, turning everything into black as the stars came out to shine. They twinkled faintly, flickering in and out of existence as the moon appeared in the bright sky, hanging sideways as small slivers of it appeared a little more every night, filling out the large, silver disk in the sky slowly.

Anguirus rested his head on his front legs, closing his dark-colored eyes as the night took over. Within a few quick minutes, the kaiju had lulled himself to the dark expanse of sleep. Besides his even breathing, which raised and lowered his chest in quick intervals, no part of him moved as he shut down for a few hours, embracing the darkness that erased his thought process.

The stars continued to twinkle without an audience and the moon moved slowly in the sky for a little while, moving steadily closer to where the sun had disappeared to not too long ago. Cotton-like clouds drifted through the sky, following the wind as it breezed through the trees and tossed the leaves around, creating a long hush through the otherwise silent night.

Eventually, though, there was a small stir from awakening creatures. The teenagers hiding in a cave in the side of a large cliff shifted around as their consciousness surfaced into awakening. They stirred for a little bit, hardly noticing their awakening state until things like the cool air against their skin and the sounds of another person breathing near them registered in the forefronts of their brain.

Danny, who was more than thrilled to notice that the island wasn't shaking anymore, grinned in his spot as he barely shifted a little bit. Tingles shot through his stiff limbs but it'd be easy enough to get them to disappear when he started moving. Danny focused on his friend first, however, shaking her arm gently as he tried to test her awareness. In an instant, he received a response from the girl as she hummed, asking, "Yes, I noticed. Do you want to lie around a little longer or do you want to get up now and get everything done?"

"Let's get up now." Danny answered, opening his blue eyes for the first time in a long time. Sam's eyes quickly did the same as the two of them pushed themselves up, rolling their aching shoulders and breathing in the night air deeply. After scratching out the sand in their eyes and scraping the dust from their skins, they both stood up and stretched out the rest of their muscles as Danny said, "How much food should we grab while we're out and about, Sammy-kins?"

There was another hum from the only female on the island as she weighed her ideas. "Uh, let's get a little more than two day's worth. Hopefully, that should keep us stocked up in case Anguirus decides to stay up as long as he did this time around."

"K." Danny muttered as he wandered over to where he'd tossed their empty sack, snatching it off the ground and wandering back over to where Sam stood, waiting for him to join her at the mouth of the cave. Once he'd caught up to the girl, the two were out and they both almost yelped in surprise at the sight of the massive figure lying miles away from their hiding spot.

They didn't need a tree to see where Anguirus had decided to camp this time, it seemed.

Sam's violet eyes darted over to Danny's statue-like figure as he stared uncomprehendingly at the large figure dozing only miles from their spot, facing the ocean as his eyelids hid the creature's dark orbs. Both of them had all but lost their voices and any will to move their bodies, unaware that their time was dwindling a little more with each second that they stayed as still as the dead.

Not daring to use her voice as she had done before, Sam caught Danny's attention by waving a hand in front of his face, getting his blue eyes to flicker to her. Sam mouthed 'are we still going to do our thing?' to him and, for a moment, Danny didn't answer as he weighed their options and studied the still form of Anguirus sleeping. Then he slowly nodded, nodding his head towards the dark forest, where they would be covered by the trees.

Light on their feet and silent as thieves, the two made a break for the tree-line. They quickly ducked inside, Sam taking the lead again. Danny followed behind easily, trying to plant his feet wherever his companion did. The two avoided brushing against of the brush, unsure of what might be hiding in the dark recesses and terrified of breaking the silence, despite the kaiju being a fair distant away from them.

With practiced ease, the two traveled along the paths and ignored how everything looked different at night. For that reason, neither of the teens thought too hard about their actions, just letting their feet guide them through the familiar terrain with the upmost certainty of where they were going. The quick succession of the different patterns in the unlevel ground assured the duo that they knew where they were going.

Quickly as they could, the two found their favorite fruit trees. They climbed them as quickly as they dared in the dark, trying to keep an eye out for any sleeping critters while also attempting to create personal records on how quickly they could get up and down the tree, their sack and its contents in the teen boy's hands.

They quickly maneuvered between the trees, rocketing through their self-proclaimed chores. The duo hardly spent a second more at each site they hit, taking off each time they whizzed through their activities before moving onto the next one. Soon enough, they had gathered enough food for the next few days and, with Sam leading the way as usual, they quickly sped through the trees.

As quickly as they left, Danny and Sam were breaking through the tree-line again and rushing for their home, the moonlight bathing them in blue-white light as the large, silver disk smiled down on them from its spot on the sky. The stars twinkled at them in greeting but neither of the teens bothered to notice their welcoming committee. They were too worried about the slumbering kaiju to look up and admire the blinking lights and the visible part of the moon.

Panting and tired all over again, the two teens calmed their aching and shaking muscles as Danny hid their new food stash in the back of the cave again, wrapping up the end so none of the fruit was visible. Afterwards, he stumbled back to where Sam was leaning against the wall, catching her breath from the rough, quick trek they had just decided to take. Danny stopped before her, mirroring her actions and leaning against the wall with a small smile. "Well, I can positively say that was the most rigorous marathon I've ever run. Not even Skulker's version of boot-camp was that bad most days."

With an amused pout between her breaths, Sam asked, "Most days?"

"Yeah, most days. There were times I was up when the sun was and I didn't take a break until the moon was popping up over the horizon." Danny stated, grinning stupidly at the memories that brought back so much joy but so much dread too. "Skulker took those days off from doing anything. It's ok though. I always got him back somehow. That's why his cheat days were few and far between."

The ebony-haired girl laughed under her breath, shaking her head at the teen boy in front of her amusedly. Patting her taller friend's shoulder, Sam replied to him, "Oh, I'm sure you did, Danny. I mean, you sure know how to irritate me and I don't even do that much to you."

That earned a slap upside the head, which earned a loud yelp from Sam before Danny loudly mumbled, " _SHHHH~!_ " After that, the epic glare competition of the century started between the two before, a few minutes later, Danny broke down in quiet laughter as he held his hand over his mouth, ignoring how Sam rolled her eyes at his amused display.

Soon enough, though, Danny was calm and the duo's breathing was back in control. They stayed against the wall for a little while longer, allowing their trembling limbs to settle down before Danny asked, nodding his head towards the mouth of the cave, "Do you wanna soak for a little while? If we're lucky, we have a little bit of time to get all this crud off our skin before big, bad, and ugly decides to come out of beddy-bye."

"Yeah, sure." Sam answered, pushing herself off the wall as Danny did. The two crept to their exit again, peeking out and making sure Anguirus was still deeply asleep before they tiptoed over to the glimmering river. It rushed towards the ocean, still hushing the silent night. As far as either of them could see, none of the little fish that hung out in the stream were around tonight, leaving only the plants on the bottom to brush against their skin as the two teenagers slowly slipped into the water without a second thought.

The air was cool but the water was colder, chilling the two's flesh and causing little bumps to appear up and down their skin. Sam visibly shivered at cool temperature, making Danny chuckle under his breath as he easily hovered in the water up to his lips, getting the very edges of his long, uneven hair damp as he moved his arms slowly through the water. Sam rubbed her arms, trying to make some friction for warmth as she too dunked everything but her head under the water.

Bothered very little by the chill, Danny scrubbed his skin under the surface of the frigid stream, scraping away all of the grime that coated and stained his tan skin. He felt an immediate difference and hummed happily as he quietly worked on his skin, putting off dunking his head. He watched as Sam started doing the same, shivering as the cold surrounded her. Despite wanting to, Danny didn't because he thought the cold felt much better than the heat had earlier that day.

The teen boy finished cleaning off his skin much faster than his female companion did and immediately went on to take a deep breath, letting his feet disappear out from under him. In an instant, Danny had disappeared under the surface of the bubbling stream, scratching his scalp while Sam watched his distorted figure, rolling her eyes while pulled a leaf from her hair, wondering when exactly it had gotten caught in her ebony strands, especially since Danny was usually pretty good about picking plants from her short locks. She muttered, "The hell?"

Sighing and letting the leaf slip from her fingers, Sam continued rubbing all the dirt and dust off her flesh as she watched the tiny frond float down the stream. It started going over Danny's head just as he popped up, getting the leaf all caught up in his tangled and drenched locks. With a smirk twitching on her lips amusedly, Sam stated, "Maybe you shouldn't scratch your scalp so much. I think that causes a lot of damage to your skin."

The teen boy shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, not in the least bit worried about screwing up his skin more than it already was. After all, he'd been on the island for years without any proper form of care for his body. Danny made do with what he had and, thus far, tearing into his scalp with his fingernails to be rid of any clinging dirt had helped him from itching his scalp so much over the past years.

"It works for me so I'm gonna keep doing it. Don't fix what ain't broken." Danny replied casually, slipping back into the water so he covered his throat and the tip of his chin. With a smile, he floated over to where Sam was taking her time, mumbling a spooky tune under his breath that vaguely sounded like the famous track from Jaws. Sam watched him with a curious eyebrow, noting the leaf still caught in the boy's hair with amusement, before she reached out and flicked the boy's forehead. Danny yelped. "Ow! What the hell was that for, woman?! Why do you hate me?"

Clicking her tongue in disapproval, Sam cupped Danny's cheeks and, in a voice one might use for their beloved pet, cooed, "Momma likes her personal space, boy. If you start invading it, Momma's gonna strike back."

"Stop talking in the first person."

Sam cackled in amusement before the duo's attention was suddenly drawn elsewhere by an unfamiliar sound. It sounded like a loud _whoosh_ , very akin to the sound of the wind blowing at high speeds, along with a sound Danny had never had the fortune of hearing before. It made him look around wildly for the sudden disturbance while his female friend mumbled, "No, it can't be…"

Quickly, the two splashed back towards the edge of the stream and pulled themselves out as the dark form of Anguirus began stirring. The two ignored the kaiju in favor of spotting the strange sound and Sam, knowing what to look for while Danny sought blindly, spotted the green and red blinking lights against the black sky first. Mouth dropping open, Sam said, "Holy shit, it is."

"It is what?" Danny asked, a hint of terror creeping into his voice as he continued to search for something. His blue eyes finally caught the blinking lights and the black mass streaking across the sky, blotting out the stars as it zoomed. Not knowing what the foreign object was, Danny clung for Sam's hand as he tugged on her appendage, asking, "What is it, Sam?"

"It's a fucking helicopter."

The whooshing sound continued as the moderate sized vehicle drew closer and closer to the island's shore. By now, Anguirus was awake and lifting his head up, spotting the flying object streaking towards his territory. Dark eyes narrowed into slits as the monster maneuvered his legs firmly under him, ready to stand up in a moment's notice to take on the incoming foe.

"Helicopter? What does that mean? What's that?" Danny asked, tugging again at Sam's hand as she listened and watched the vehicle.

Looking at Danny, the female clutched the hand in hers and replied, "It means people."

Blue eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the strange vehicle, a helicopter, quickly fly over the beach, closing in on the jungle now. Then panic took over as he watched Anguirus slowly rise to his feet. Shaking his head wildly, Danny told Sam, "No, no, no, they can't be here right now! If they don't leave right now, Anguirus is gonna-"

Too late.

The kaiju roared as he suddenly pushed himself onto his hind legs, front legs flailing in the air. However, the sudden, random flailing was completely intentional as Anguirus managed to hit the flying vehicle. There was a loud _boom!_ as the helicopter burst into flames and started falling from the sky, landing all along the edge of the jungle and the beach in flaming bits and pieces.

* * *

 **Alright, this is unedited, as you could probably tell. I'ma lay down my sick card and say I haven't slept really well in a couple of days (Kinzy: You look like shit! :D Me: Gee, thanks, bitch. -.-). On the bright side, one more chapter and then this is over and I can write a one-shot my delusional mind thought of while I failed to sleep because stuffy noses, sore throats, and never-ending coughing! :D**


	11. The End

Ch.10: The End

Unfortunately for the teens, the helicopter woke Anguirus up early from his nap and they quickly found out that kaijus were not graceful awakeners. The large, shelled monster rampaged, obviously fuming once he knocked the helicopter from the sky. He had roared, landed so roughly on the ground that it knocked Sam back into the stream she and her friend had just crawled out of, and then begun to ravage the forest to the ground. After pulling Sam from the stream again, Danny had dragged her back to the shelter and the two had huddled together, shivering from the night's chilly air on their skin and from shock and fear.

Though they had tried, neither of the teenagers could sleep. No matter how much they curled up, told each other funny stories to calm their nerves, and assured each other they wouldn't disappear, the duo couldn't get the image of the burning helicopter out of their head. It had all just been so quick and the two of them had been shocked by the speed Anguirus could possess when provoked. The kaiju's roar echoed in their heads, as well as the echoing of the high-pitched whistle that had followed when the helicopter had begun dropping from the sky, crash-landing and catching fire. Ironically, it was Anguirus and his rage that had kept the jungle from burning to the ground with the two teenagers inside it.

The teen duo wanted to go to the site of the crash and check for survivors. While it was highly improbable that anyone managed to survive a direct hit from the formidable kaiju and then a helicopter crash, Danny and Sam still wanted to make sure. After all, they had both managed to evade their own death situation; Danny, a plane crash, and Sam, an explosion. Who knew? Maybe someone was camping out and waiting for an opportunity to find a way to get help somehow. The teenagers were more than willing to help anyone in danger.

The only downside? Anguirus was awake now and still rampaging, causing trees to become uprooted, loose boulders to break from cliff sides, and the ground to crack open in some places. Fortunately, Anguirus kept his destructive mood inland, leaving the coastline of the island and the teen's clearing mostly untouched by the whirlwind of destruction that quickly transpired. However, that didn't mean either of the teenagers had any courage to leave their hobble, despite the distance. Anguirus could travel it much quicker than either of them could and the duo didn't want to be caught outside if the kaiju suddenly came their way.

That confined the two to the cave, where they had another school lesson while their eyes drooped but stayed stubbornly open as well. More stories were told and the two attempted to sleep time and time again. Every time they closed their eyes, though, all they saw was fire. For Sam, it wasn't all too unfamiliar. She had been in a similar situation not too long before the helicopter showed up and crashed so some of the flames she saw were also on a big, luxurious yacht. For Danny, who didn't remember anything about the crash, he saw bits and pieces of an explosion that had felt very close to him, though he couldn't, for the life of him, figure out what had started the flashbacks.

Slowly, the day passed them by and Anguirus continued his angry rage, pissed that a human contraption had tried to enter his new domain, unknowingly harboring two in the same area. However, the furious fit took a lot of his energy and, though he normally wouldn't be so tired, Anguirus was bedding down for another good night's sleep as the sun began setting again. It took a little longer for him to fall asleep, the remnants of agitation still on his brain, but he did fall into a peaceful slumber nonetheless.

Sam and Danny, still both shaken up from the events from the night before, were hesitant to leave their small domain, despite the kaiju being in a deep slumber. They were terrified that he'd wake up to something else, get angry again, and possibly see them this time around. They'd been lucky before; they'd been rather close to the cave and it had only taken them a few seconds for them to duck into their shelter, efficiently hiding themselves. However, this time they wanted to go check out the crash site of the helicopter and that was a bit of a distance away. Anything could go wrong in that small span of time.

Despite their worries, the duo did head out after a bit of pep-talking and insulting each other for their coward-like behavior. Sam, unsurprisingly, took the lead as they slithered through the pitch-black jungle silently. Danny stayed right on her heels, tiptoeing through the brush as his female friend stomped her way through. Again, they avoided the brush, cautious of what might be hiding. It wouldn't do them any good if something happened to them while they were out, especially if that something made or caused a lot of noise in the process.

The duo kept out sights for the unfamiliar kaiju in the area. Though neither of them could see their hand pressed against their face, that didn't stop them from being on high-alert as the canopy of mangled trees hid them from the shimmering eyes of the stars, moon, and what few birds decided to glide through the air at this time.

The journey started out easy enough for the two teenagers. They kept to their usual path as they trekked in the direction of the helicopter's crash site. Soon enough though, they were weaving in and out of unfamiliar paths, silently wondering if they were going in the right direction or not. Danny whispered uncertain directions to his leading friend, scraping his mind for any definite way to get to the site. However, he'd never gotten this far into the woods, moving this far away from his beloved shelter. He'd never had a need.

Noting the uncertainty in her friend's voice, Sam looked over her shoulder in a vain attempt to see her friend. She whispered, "Danny, are you sure you know where we're going? We can hardly see two feet in front of us. I don't want to get lost and not be able to find our way out."

There was a moment where Danny didn't answer and Sam, refusing to go on without an answer, stopped. The teen boy ran into her a second later and the girl reached out, finding Danny's arm and steadying him in the dark. Shaking his head, the boy looked where he thought Sam's face might've been and grabbed her arm in return, reassuring himself that she was there with him. "Why'd you stop, Sam?"

"You didn't answer my question."

Danny sighed, reaching up to rub his face with his free hand. The other one stayed firmly locked over Sam's as they stood in the middle of the pitch-black jungle, wasting time while they tried to figure out where the heck they were going. He still had a vague idea; there had been a couple of times he'd been out this far but had gotten lost each time. Skulker had dragged him back to the shelter each time and he hadn't been so courageous to try again since. After all, what if he got lost? There was no one to drag him back this time.

"Look Sam, I haven't been out here much. I'm still hoping I'm mostly right with these directions." Danny admitted, shrugging his shoulders, even though Sam couldn't see him very well, if at all. "If we get lost, we get lost. If worst comes to worse, I have an idea on how to get to the beach and we can backtrack from there. For now, let's just continue on this path and see where it takes us. After today's rampage, Anguirus should be out for the entire night."

The teen girl was quiet. She contemplated her companion's words, knowing she had time and that Danny wouldn't try to leave her or push her. After all, they both had fears of getting on their only friend's bad side. It would be miserable but, thus far, they'd both avoided pissing the other off. They trusted each other that much (probably because of trauma but whatever, Sam decided).

That's why Sam nodded and hesitantly said, "Alright. Keep giving me directions. You better know what you're doing."

"Oh, I don't but I've winged stuff before and it's worked out fine. If we're lucky and the Fates are smiling down upon us (if they can even see us), it'll work out this time too."

"…that's not helpful."

With a roll of her eyes, Sam tugged Danny forward by his arm. In an instant, the two were off again, ducking under the branches they could see coming and shying away from any plants around their ankles. Once again, they were silent as they maneuvered through the brush, basking in the silent companionship they held as they grasped each other's forearms firmly. They were both determined to not let go and lose their partner in the darkness for fear of never seeing them again.

Though worried about listening to her friend as he gave her probable wrong directions, Sam did as she was told anyways. She took his directions, squinting in the dark and slowly taking the turns Danny prompted her out. With her violet eyes, she scanned the ground in front of her for any foreign shapes and the tree-branches above her for any menacing figures. However, nothing really stuck out to her, though they had probably passed one or two dangerous beings since they had started their journey. Luckily for them, they hadn't provoked them one way or another.

Despite the small chance of the plan actually working, Danny's directions actually turned out to be quite helpful. They caught sight of burning embers in the distance and, with no further prompting, the two rushed the rest of the way to the site, throwing caution to the wind as they excitedly approached. Neither of them could believe that their luck had held and, in the back of his mind, Danny wondered if their luck would stay on their way back to the shelter.

The trees around the area of the wreck had been destroyed and thrown to the ground, creating a giant nest of tree-trunks and leafy branches. From what Sam could make out, they had stumbled upon only the smoldering remains of the cock-pit. The propeller, skids, and tail were nowhere in sight. Melted, warped shards of what once was the window lay all around the clearing, attempting to sparkle in the moonlight but too dusty to do so. The cock-pit was caved in some places; other parts were ripped off. It was covered in black ash and dirt and the smell of smoke permeated the area, making the duo's nose crinkle up at the overwhelming scent lingering in the air.

As far as they could see, there were no survivors dotting the area, injured, bleeding, and burned. However, that was rather expected.

"Good God, I would not have wanted to be in this hunk of metal when it blew for all the money in the world." Sam muttered, shuddering at sickening sight and releasing Danny's arms to rub hers. Her violet eyes scanned the brightly lit air, taking in some of the faint, glowing embers that stubbornly stayed lit. Heat radiated off the sizzling hunk of metal and, despite the warmth cutting through the chilly night air, Sam still felt her insides stay cold.

Danny frowned at the area around him, feeling much more detached by the scene than Sam did. It bothered him less, allowing him to carefully step through the bird's nest of trees and branches as he watched out for anything sharp that would cut his feet or an animal taking shelter in the toasty area. His steps were light as the branches crunched under his feet and leaves twitched under his bare soles.

The teen boy moved slowly but effortlessly, getting a closer look at the mangled piece of metal still sizzling in the moonlight. It was a twisted, morbid desire but he was curious as to what it looked like up close, trying to imagine the hulking pieces of metal as one big, functioning mass that could fly through the air. He pushed the thought of the pilot and any other passengers to the back of his mind, not wanting to think about anymore dead bodies on the island.

Sam followed behind soon after, paying little mind to where she stepped with her boot-clad feet. She quickly came up behind the black-haired boy, reaching out and tapping his bare shoulder. Sam asked, "Hey, what are you doing? You might get hurt. Let's get back to the cave and catch some sleep. There's nothing here."

Tilting his head to the side, Danny studied the wreckage for a little longer, ignoring his friend's prods and pokes at his back and shoulders. However, Sam was persistent and the teen boy finally answered, "Alright, alright, I get it. You're right. Let's get out of here."

Content with his reply, Sam nodded and she clutched his arm again, dragging the teen back towards the break in the trees they had come from. They tripped and stumbled as they went, catching their feet on vines and getting them caught in small holes between branches. It took some cursing and pulling but, soon enough, they were back in the dark canopy of trees, trying to retrace their steps back to their shelter.

Once again, Sam relied on Danny for directions. All the possible turns they could take looked the same, as did the scenery. There were no substantial landmarks to rely on for help and the only thing keeping the two teens on track was Danny's knowledge, though it was taking him some time to reverse the directions in his head. However, Sam was patient and, even though their speed was considerably slower than before, they were back in their shelter soon enough, safe and sound.

Silently and lost in their thoughts, the two teens bedded down in their usual spots and, despite their exhaustion, it took them much longer to fall asleep than either of them thought it would.

The next few days were just as drear and drab as the few days before it. They stayed mostly confined to their shelter, only escaping the rock walls for necessities such as staying hydrated and keeping their food stock up, among other things. They talked and had school lessons but none of it held the same appeal as it once had. It was all too forced and there were doing the same things so closely together that it just stripped their favorite activities of their former glory.

The two passed the time as best as they could, despite the days being so boring and bland. Even so, the hours ticked by slowly and the sun never seemed to move from its spot in the sky. When night came, they had similar problems, if Anguirus was still awake and rocking it. The days never passed quick enough and time only seemed to be slowing down the more days they stayed cooped up in their nifty shelter. It was tempting to start leaving the cave during the day, when Anguirus was always awake, despite the idea being very akin to a suicide mission.

Sleep seemed like a good idea to get the time to jump forward for them but neither Sam nor Danny could stay asleep for more than a few hours at a time, despite the exhaustion weighing them down. Even when the earth was still and the nights were all but silent, the two stayed wide awake. Their thoughts led them to contemplate their problems and the mystery of the helicopter flying over the island. Even when they were awake, parts of their minds lingered on these trains of thought. As such, it became harder and harder to focus on one thing for long periods of time.

The only upside seemed to be that Anguirus had yet to figure out that they were living in his territory, despite the teens becoming more daring out of boredom and necessity. He still wandered the area a lot but Danny figured that wasn't unusual; Godzilla did it too but he just meandered around larger distances and took swims. Anguirus liked to stay in one spot for long periods of time, it seemed.

At some point, Danny and Sam had nothing more to converse about. They'd told every story, combed through every piece of their life that was worthwhile, and all but used up the mythical stories each of them carried in their brains. The only topic that neither of them had gone over was the plane crash. No one had brought it up, not even on the night it happened, and the subject had been all but avoided because neither teenager wanted to admit the event had scared them as much as it had.

"Why even bother to knock it out of the sky like that?" Sam asked irritably, looking out the mouth of the cave in boredom while she and her friend sat around and pretty much did nothing. They were too tired to do anything but they're tired enough to sleep, it seemed.

Danny only shrugged and, equally as bored, replied, "It's his territory now. Anguirus does what he wants. Humans and kaijus don't have a good history anyway. Why should he abandon hostilities now?"

Four more days passed, even though it seemed like an eternity. Finally, the two teenagers had spent enough time together in a confined space and, despite the kaiju absently roaming the island, they decided to foolishly go outside and catch some fresh air, swearing they were going to go nuts if they didn't. They promised themselves it would only be for a little while, just to get a change of atmosphere so they wouldn't lose their minds, and told each other they'd stick near all of Danny's kaiju-bunkers. They wouldn't be totally absurd in their actions; they'd play it safe.

Together, the two slipped out of their cave and quickly scurried into the nearby foliage, hiding themselves in the brush and under the uprooted trees leaning against each other for support. Danny and Sam maneuvered through different paths, taking some time for themselves so they wouldn't rip each other's heads off when they finally went back to the cave. However, they always made sure the other was either in view or ear-shot, just in case they needed to regroup suddenly for one reason or another.

The teen boy rubbed the tiredness from his eyes as he casually walked along the shaking ground, noticing how the trees and other foliage shuddered with him. The loose dirt under his feet shifted and leveled out while small rocks and pebbles bounced before settling down. Seconds later, they were rolling this way and that when the ground shook again as a kaiju in the far distance made his rounds, traveling to pass the time.

Danny noticed the way the scenery had shifted as opposed to what it had looked like when he had first landed on the island. The constant trembling uprooted many trees while others were slowly becoming undone, tilting to all sides while they fought to stay standing. Most of the shrubbery was the same way, lying along the ground on their sides as the roots stuck up from the loose soil. Some parts of the forest were completely destroyed and demolished, mostly from one specific monster's footsteps and earlier rampage, leaving Danny and his female companion out in the open at some points. It was so drastically different from what the boy was used to but, at the same time, it also looked the same in some ways. Maybe it was because the well-worn trails he'd been using for years couldn't be undone as quickly as the greenery and, even though they'd been uprooted, it couldn't take away the different landmarks either. Who really knew though?

As such, the teen boy came upon one of the familiar highlights of the forest and grinned as he looked the massive citrus tree over, noting how some of the roots could be viewed as the dirt shuffled away but the tree continued to remain standing. Sure, the trunk had yet to be as wide as Danny and it wasn't as tall as many of the other trees and plants in the jungle but it was one of the biggest for all the various citrus plants scattered about.

Figuring he might as well get a snack before he had to go back to the cave, Danny jogged over to the base of the tree and hoisted himself into the lowest branch. He quickly shifted his feet under him, steadying himself as the rocks the earth gave attempted to knock him out. After the boy fixed his stance so he'd be able to stand, despite the shaking, Danny straightened himself up and reached for a higher branch, beginning the quick trek up to some of the higher branches. He made quick work of the journey, sitting down in one of them as he looked some of the fruit for flaws of some kind.

Because most of their food runs had taken place during the night, Sam and Danny had picked up some fruit that wasn't ripe or were infested with some bug or another. They had to chuck the infested ones and, though they ate the unripe fruits, it hadn't been particularly pleasant. Danny wanted to enjoy his food when he ate it; therefore, he was picky as he looked for a snack.

However, he didn't get the chance to do so.

As the earth gave way to Anguirus, there was another, harder shake that cut the horned kaiju's off. It was strong enough that Danny was nearly sent flying out of his spot. In all actuality, he was thrown from his spot but he quickly grappled for another branch nearby with a yelp, catching himself before he could fall. He swung around for a moment, legs flailing around uselessly, before the ground stilled eerily again, allowing Danny a moment to right himself as he calmed. As he heaved a breath and dropped to the branch under the one he clung to, Danny vaguely noted the extreme difference between the footsteps he'd been feeling all week and the new form of earthquake. However, he only had a moment to think about all the possibilities that could mean before a familiar sound nearly shattered his eardrums.

" _ **SKKKKKRRRRREEEEEEEOOOOOONNNNNGGGGKKKKK!**_ "

A loud _Boom!_ followed and the next thing he knew, Danny was gasping for air as he landed roughly against the ground and scarping his skin on the citrus tree's exposed roots. The teen scrambled to get on his knees, throwing his head up to look at the sky. His blue eyes were as wide as saucers as he took in the menacing form outlined against the cloudless blue sky. Birds swarmed around the massive King of Monsters as he glared in the direction of Anguirus while tidal waves of water fell from the kaiju's body. Godzilla held himself in a powerful stance but also seemed to slouch at the same time, as if he was tired but his work was not yet done.

And, overall, he looked absolutely _pissed_.

"Shit just got real…" Danny muttered, paralyzed by the sudden turn of events. He quickly slapped his hands over his ears when Godzilla let out another long roar to the other kaiju invading his turf before Anguirus responded with his own roar that barely managed to level up to the King of Monster's earth-shattering call.

As the sounds died down, the earth fell into an eerie quiet that was only shattered by the calls from the airborne birds. The ground ceased its shaking, still as both of the monsters sized each other up silently and told the other that they only had a few seconds to leave their turf. Ringing echoed in Danny's ears as everything became deathly still and he looked up again from his half-fetal position, studying the figure that had been a constant figure in what bit of his life he remembered.

Then the silence was broken when Sam yelled, somewhere off in the near distance, "Danny!"

Godzilla's dark eyes darted to them for a second as the female broke through the dense, uprooted shrubbery. Of course, in that instant, the earth began to spasm as Anguirus decided to charge as the King of Monsters became distracted. Sam grabbed Danny's arms, managing to keep herself up, despite the world being tossed around like rubber ball. The humans ran, not daring to look over their shoulders as Anguirus rammed his horn head into the taller kaiju's side, eliciting another ear-shattering roar from Godzilla that sounded oddly like a scream.

Stumbling over their feet and yelping as the ground moved under them, Danny and Sam struggled to continue on as they listened to the sounds of the struggle behind them. From what their ears and the trembling ground told them, Godzilla had shoved his enemy's horns from his side with a loud _squelch_ sound, probably sending blood everywhere, before he knocked Anguirus to the side, following up with ramming his massive tail against the four-legged kaiju, brutally knocking Anguirus from him while also catching his breath.

As Godzilla began a brutal assault on the invader of his turf, Danny and Sam panted as they dragged their sorry asses through the dense foliage. They felt every move the kaijus made as they attacked each other as Godzilla took the upper hand for the time being. The two tried to ignore it all, focusing on their own task of survival as the kaijus duked it out, both wanting the territory they deemed as theirs.

The duo ducked inside their shelter and turned quickly around to watch as Anguirus holed up, allowing Godzilla to run his hand through one of the spikes, eliciting another roar of pain from the King of Monsters as he attempted to slash the shelled creature's face with his razor-sharp claws. Godzilla growled deep in his throat as he backed away, ignoring his bleeding hand and hardly noticing the way large blots of blood dripped to the jungle floor, covering large areas with the red substance and all but saturating the soil, turning everything scarlet as it gleamed in the sun.

The King of Monster's dorsal fins began to glow and streams of blue light outlined the kaiju's massive teeth. Anguirus, seeing his assailant powering up his infamous attack, began retreating from Godzilla's immediate range, moving quickly and covering as much distance as he could before the King of Monsters had a chance to fire. As it came to be, Anguirus only had a few seconds to move before Godzilla fired his atomic breath, which sent the horned kaiju skidding across the ground…

…to stop right in front of the teenager's cave.

Sam and Danny both froze. Paralyzed, they both stood in the mouth of the cave, watching as Anguirus regained his bearings as Godzilla quickly shut his atomic breath off again, slouching forward again but still looking as pissed as a girl on her period when she's refused chocolate. However, neither of the teenagers could bring themselves to care about the King of Monsters when Anguirus was getting up, lifting his head and locking his eyes on their little hideout.

" _Fuck._ " Sam muttered.

As if the duo had committed some kind of crime by surviving, Anguirus narrowed his eyes accusingly at the two as he clambered to his feet again. He all but forgot about his strong opponent as he roared, preparing to run into the cliff-side and make it collapse.

" _ **SKKRREEEEOONNGGKK!**_ "

Godzilla rushed into Anguirus' side, pushing the shelled creature miles to the side as he ate the ground under him with his powerful legs. Anguirus released a loud cry at the sudden jerk and the teens were sent sprawling across the ground by the powerful footsteps and impact. That didn't stop them from watching Godzilla nearly send his assailant onto his back with another strong push before Anguirus managed to regain his bearings, puncturing the King of Monster's body again with his large spikes and claws.

Stumbling back and bleeding profusely, Godzilla glared fiercely at the other creature before roaring again, practically making the earth shake with its ferocity. Once again, Danny and Sam had to clamp their hands over their ears, trying to block out as much of the sound as they could while Anguirus flinched back from the sound, barely hindering the King of Monster's long roar with his moan of pain. It turned into a scream of pain as Godzilla's atomic breath suddenly shot out of his mouth again, blasting Anguirus straight in the face as his dorsal fins exploded with light, blinding anything that happened to look straight into the beams.

When everything died down again, Anguirus began stumbling from the area, wounded in many ways. Godzilla, not showing any weakness or fatigue outwardly, watched with his piercing glare. He stayed still as death as the two teenagers got up from their places on the ground and no one moved for a long time, waiting for Anguirus to disappear on the horizon before they dared to do anything else.

The large form that was the shelled kaiju faded as he retreated to his original part of the island. Anguirus got smaller and smaller with each passing minute before he was nothing but a speck on the horizon. Then that too disappeared and left everything as it had been originally.

"Damn…" Danny mumbled, shaking his head. Sam breathed out slowly, catching the breath she didn't know she'd lost during the fight. Then she nodded, agreeing with Danny's statement as she herself thought the same thing. The duo was enveloped in silence quickly thereafter and the two watched as Godzilla visibly slouched in exhaustion, wondering why he wasn't moving from his spot just mere miles away from where they stood.

Then they watched as Godzilla slowly tipped to the side, losing his footing and falling towards the ground.

* * *

 _Ker-plunk!_

Sam whipped another rock from her hand, watching as it flew through the air before landing with a big splash in the sea. The waves rolled over it quickly, tossing the small stone under the surface of the water before the rock floated towards the ocean-bottom. The small stone flew farther than the one before it, claiming the spot as the farthest thrown rock thrown yet. With a victorious smile, Sam pumped her fist in the air and said, "Yes!"

"Ah hell no. I am not being outdone now." Danny stated seriously, eyeing Sam heatedly as she started dancing, thrilled by her ability to whip stones father than he could. He shook his head, tested the rock he held lightly in his hand, and then chucked it as hard as he could with a flick of his wrist. It sailed through the air at high speeds before it fell to the waves, barely managing to surpass his female friend's throw. Sam froze in her dancing, mouth dropping open, and Danny threw his hands in the air. "YES!"

"Bastard."

"Bitch."

Rolling her eyes, Sam crossed her arms over her chest and looked out to the ocean again. Far off in the distance, there was a large, military-looking vessel that was absolutely _massive_. It could probably hold hundreds of people and all sorts of vehicles, if the commander of the ship chose so. The shape and size of the boat reminded Sam of a battleship, though she wasn't too sure about her analysis.

Upon seeing it for the first time as they stepped onto the beach, the duo had both become excited about what it could mean before becoming fearful again. What if the sighting turned out just like the helicopter they had seen? It could even be worse. Godzilla could blast the boat to pieces with his atomic ray, whereas Anguirus had only been able to swat the helicopter out of the air. Who knew how this scene would turn out, if the King of Monsters didn't like the ship near his island?

Their anxieties had been at ease for a little while. Even though the battle had gone on the day before, Godzilla was still sleeping peacefully where he'd fallen. Though the two teens had been worried at first, especially Danny, they could see the steady rise and fall of the King of Monster's chest, assuring them that he was still alive, if exhausted. It had excited both teenagers, seeing as they didn't have to worry about being torn to bits by a kaiju that wasn't tolerant to humans.

However, the longer they watched the ship, the more nothing happened. Eventually, the teens had gone to chucking rocks to ease their boredom as they waited for something to happen. Their earlier thoughts of the ship being there for the helicopter became tainted with doubts, though they knew surviving for more years to come would be easy for them, if no other aggressive monsters tried to invade Godzilla's territory again.

Looking over his shoulder, Danny studied the mass of black hide intently before a small grin twitched at the corners of his lips. Placing his hands on his hips, Danny asked his female friend, "What do you think Godzilla dreams about?"

Sam snorted in amusement at the question, rolling her eyes again and bending down to grab another stone. She got up quickly enough, flicking her wrist and watching as the stone sailed away from her. It dropped into the ocean with another loud _ker-plunk!_ as the female looked to her male friend, replying, "Probably something along the lines of destroying cities or something. He may have saved our asses but he's still a giant, hulking monster, after all."

Danny hummed in amusement at the thought, even though destroyed cities weren't exactly a good idea. Sam scoffed at him before smacking him upside the head, earning a yelp of pain before Danny cackled at her reaction. Shaking her head at the male, Sam turned to look back at the ocean and froze. Danny, still caught up in his amusement, hardly noticed his friend's sudden, frozen state until she didn't make any move to hurt him again. Then he paused and asked, "Sam? What's the matter?"

The teen girl pointed to the ocean. Danny turned his head, confused and curious, before he too froze at the sight. "Holy shit…"

Speeding across the water was a boat. Not a boat like the massive one still miles from the island but a small, motor one that zipped along the surface of the ocean at high-speeds, bouncing with the waves and spraying mist in its wake. It was still a distance away but it was heading straight for them, closing the distance quickly.

The duo reacted instantly, screaming and jumping up and down. They hardly realized they were doing it at all, only reacting to what their eyes were telling them and what their brains told them to do to get attention.

Fortunately for the boy and the girl, the small speed-boat seemed to be heading in their direction anyways. It honked its loud horn to signal that it knew they were there and Sam squealed loud enough to make Danny cringe before the teen girl slapped a hand over her mouth in embarrassment, turning beat red as Danny rubbed his precious ears. He said, "I think you made my ears bleed. Are they bleeding, Sam?"

 _SLAP._

"OW! Could you stop doing that, woman?!"

The speed-boat drew closer and, as it approached land, it slowed as the two teens released their irritation, grinning like idiots as they bounced in their spots, moving closer to the water's edge as the captain of the small vessel waved at them, also grinning as he saw the two teens, though he also looked very confused. However, that didn't stop him from encouragingly yelling, "Hello there! Are you guys ready to get off this island?!"

"HELL YES." They both yelled before they laughed, looking back and forth between the boat and each other. With each second, the boat bobbed a little closer until he was only a few feet from land, where he dropped an anchor for the time being. The man motioned for the two teens to come aboard and, without any further coaxing, the two splashed into the water, quickly making their way to the boat's edge and, with some help, climbing inside over the edge.

The man with sandy hair laughed at the eagerness the two teens displayed, quickly passing out a couple of blankets that would serve as fine towels. As the two dirty, sweaty teens wrapped themselves up, the dark-haired man looked the two over before asking, "Well, when I figured I might find Samantha-" The girl in question twitched. "-I didn't expect to also find another kid. What's your name, son?"

"Danny." The teen boy answered, grinning at the older man as he barely managed to contain his excitement. Part of him waited to wake up from a dream but it wasn't coming.

"And it's _Sam_." The girl corrected, trying her best to hide her grimace with a small smile of her own. However, her show of disdain for the name couldn't quite be hidden, making the sandy-haired man laugh at her look. Sam's eye twitched in irritation that finally turned into a content look when Danny swatted her head amusedly.

"I'm Captain Ron of the United States Navy." The man stated and that was when the two noticed the uniform. It only struck familiarity in Sam though. With a worried tinted grin, Ron asked, "You wouldn't happen to know if there are any other survivors on the island, do you? We sent a helicopter ahead to scout but we lost contact with it."

An uneasy glanced was passed between the two teenagers. Their eyes silently begged the other person to explain what had happened to the helicopter. However, neither teen noticed that their silence spoke for them, making Captain Ron attempt to wave away the awkward atmosphere as he said, "It's alright. I get it. You can tell everything you know when we get back to the ship. I'd sit down and strap in now."

The duo quickly did as they were told, sitting down close to each other as Captain Ron grinned at them as he began bringing the anchor in again. The sandy-haired man made quick work of it though and, in a few minutes, he was at the wheel and slowly turning the speed-boat back towards the much larger ship in the distance.

Danny looked over the back of the boat, studying the island he'd lived on for years with a twinge of anxiousness and sorrow running through him. Sam rubbed his shoulder comfortingly as she watched the island's shore as well. Both of their eyes widened when they saw Godzilla begin to move, tensing up in anxiety as thoughts of the helicopter swam in their brains.

When the King of Monsters lifted his head, his gaze was immediately drawn to the bobbing boat as it drifted away from the island, holding the two teenagers that had made their home in his territory. He showed no aggression in his features as he watched the boat, calm and unworried. It allowed the duo to ease their tense shoulders and smile gleefully. Then Danny raised a hand and waved, shouting into the wind, "Bye!"

He wasn't sure but Danny thought he heard a small grunt in reply to his goodbye.

* * *

 **Hehe, Captain Ron reference... I love that movie. XD Anyways, this is the end (THANK GOD! WHO CARES IF THIS CHAPTER MAY BE INACCURATE?)! I will say, for anyone's whose interested, that I do have a sequel and a prequel in mind but I've got zero interest in doing either right now. That may change in the future though. Who knows?**

 **And this last part was based on the idea that the 2014 movie went on for a week or something like that timeframe. I couldn't bring myself to watch the movie and find out for sure what it was.**

 **Have a wonderful day! :D**

 **Thanks for favoriting/following:** ** _ShadowPillow, GhostAnn._**


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